Some Call It Natural

... I call it normal

5 Things We Do If Our Kids Get Sick and What We Do To Try To Prevent It In The First Place

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Welcome to the December 2012 Natural Living Blog Carnival: Natural Remedies.

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Natural Living Blog Carnival hosted by Happy Mothering and The Pistachio Project through the Green Moms Network. This month our members have written posts about how they use natural remedies in their homes.

Lots of people are visiting the medical doctor this time of year, missing lots of school or work, and just plain feeling miserable!

Our family is no exception. We get sick too. The difference is when we get sick, we allow our bodies to fight off the illness on it’s own rather than putting drugs in our body with unknown side effects.

So, what we do when our kids get sick is super simple:

1. We get them checked by a chiropractor (which happens to be my hubby and I)

Okay, I realize we are at a financial advantage to get our kids adjusted (this is what a chiropractor does) than most people. That being said, if you are spending money on medicine, you can spend that money on a chiropractor, instead. Your body will thank you for it. When your body is able to fight an illness off naturally, it is that much stronger when the next illness comes around. If you artificially fight off the illness with drugs (otherwise known as ‘medicine’) you are weakening the body. Not to mention all the many side effects of those drugs!

2. We make sure they get lots of rest

Rest is so important. I always tell my kids, “Go to bed, you heal when you sleep.” I’m sure they think I’m a broken record, but it’s true! Your body needs sleep so it can do it’s job and fight off whatever is going on inside you!

3. We have the kids drink lots of water.

You don’t want your child getting dehydrated. That is never a good thing. Plus, if they are fevering, chances are they are losing lots of water through their skin. Water is really underrated when it comes to sickness. Just like rest, you need water to help your body do it’s job! We have our kids drink water every time they are awake. Meaning, if they have been sleeping, if they wake up, they drink water. If they are awake for long periods, we just try to remind them to drink every 30 minutes or so. I know that seems often, but I don’t know about your kids, but ours only drink an ounce or so at a time. At that rate, we have to ask them to drink it more often.

4. We don’t make them eat

A lot of people get worried when their kids are sick and won’t eat. Yet, that same adult, when they are sick, will go days without eating a thing! What’s the difference? There is none! When we are sick, a lot of times our bodies don’t really want or need food. Your body is busy trying to fight off a bacteria or virus. It doesn’t want to take the time to have to digest your food. Your child can go days without eating. Don’t worry about it. Just make sure you are keeping lots of liquids down him/her and she will be alright!

5. We give them extra nutrition

So, I know this kind of contradicts #4, so bear with me. While we don’t necessarily want our bodies to have to be digesting an entire meal, there are things we can ingest that could help our bodies along on this process. There are some wonderful antibiotics God put in nature that we can take advantage of in times of sickness. Two of them are honey and garlic. When myself or my kids are sick, we will crush up a clove of garlic and put it in a spoon. Then cover it with honey and eat what is in the spoon. I will admit, the kids don’t really enjoy this, but do they enjoy yucky medicine? No, but as parents we give our kids what we feel is right at the time! There are so many options out there as far as supplements or whole foods that you can use to strengthen your body and help it get through your illness faster. Some of our favorites are garlic, honey, oregano oil, elderberry, inForce, and good old vitamin C!

Oh, and the “and What We Do To Try To Prevent It In The First Place” part of the title of this post?

That’s easy! We try our best to follow all these 5 steps all the time!

  • We get regular chiropractic adjustments (once a week or as needed)
  • We try to get good sleep every night
  • We make sure the kids are drinking lots of water every day (it is pretty much the only liquid they consume. We do very little juice/milk and NO soda)
  • And we try to have good nutrition on a daily basis. We do cheat around the holidays and birthdays, though! :)

Okay! I truly hope these things will help you all get over your illnesses this season! One last thing I will mention is a positive attitude goes a long way too! :)

 

 

 

Visit Happy Mothering and The Pistachio Project to learn more about participating in next month’s Natural Living Blog Carnival!

Please take some time to enjoy the posts our other carnival participants have contributed:

Related posts:

  1. I am a Health Conscious Christian and My Kids Trick or Treat
  2. Must Have Items in the Car With Kids
  3. Stepping Into the Green Confessional
  4. 7 Things a Chiropractor Won’t Let His Kids Do

Comments

  1. I’ve heard of the crushed garlic covered in honey before and want to try it. But does it leave your breath real garlicy the rest of the day? I know it sounds silly, but I work full time and can’t really have garlicy breath all the time while sick. I’m hoping you’ll tell me that you don’t have any problems with stinky garlicy breath because I believe this trick would work wonders when you don’t feel good.

    [Reply]

    Nicole @ Some Call It Natural Reply:
    December 26th, 2012 at 9:55 PM

    We eat so much garlic, it’s hard to answer that question. :) If you swallow it more like a vitamin, instead of chewing it up, I’m sure it would be better. And, really, who cares if you smell like garlic one day out of the week if it means you will feel better? I’m sure your coworkers won’t mind unless it’s all the time! :) Better than the people with too much perfume on, the ones with b.o., the ones who pass gas at work, and the ones with halitosis, right!? ;)

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  3. Wow, I’ve never heard anyone recommend weekly chiropractor adjustments before. It sounds like you and your husband are both practicing chiropractors, do you have many patients that are able to do that? I know that my husband sees a chiropractor about every other week, but I think the chiropractor just focuses on his arms for his pain from working on computers.

    I’ve never heard the raw garlic & honey trick, but that seems easy enough to try, I may use it on myself today!
    Alicia at GreenLifestyleConsulting.com recently posted this awesome post!..Acupuncture – Beyond Western MedicineMy Profile

    [Reply]

    Nicole @ Some Call It Natural Reply:
    December 20th, 2012 at 8:56 PM

    Hi Alicia,
    Yes, we do have quite a few that are able to do get checked once a week. Let me just say, though, that not everyone needs an adjustment once a week. It depends on how stressful your life is, really. Some people are good with an adjustment once a month, others need an adjustment once a week and then their are others that are in between. Since we are all individuals, we all need different things. It sounds like we practice differently than your husband’s chiropractor. We are not just interested in getting rid of someone’s pain. We strive to help them understand how their body works and help it to function at its highest level. If you have more questions, feel free to ask away… I smell another blog post coming! ;)

    P.S. If you are doing the garlic and honey because you don’t feel well, I hope you feel better soon!

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