Give your Kids a Massage!

My two precious ladies love to give their mama neck and back rubs and even foot massages. I lap these up like a cat at a bowl of milk. I unfortunately do not really like giving massages as much as receiving them, I know I am so selfish!

So in appreciation of all those neck and back rubs I surprised my daughters earlier in the year with vouchers for a massage each at a local business, Body Synergy Massage. Body Synergy Massage is a beautiful little business in the centre of our town and the owner / operator Rachel Ferregel is very professional, yet warm and welcoming. She is a mother herself, and she treated the girls beautifully. She had them fill in their own patient forms, which makes a child feel so good and builds their confidence, and explained things to them as she would anyone having a massage. Despite them being young, she even left the room to let them slip out of their clothes so they were left feeling comfortable, respected and safe at all times.
 

They were a little nervous going in, "you go first, no you go first" but coming out ... well I think you can tell from the smile on The Fashionista's face that it was rather enjoyable. I see elbowing each other out of the way to get there first on the cards for their next visit!

After each child's massage Rachel, commented on different things about the children and commented that AS had a very, very tight neck, funnily enough AS had been getting headaches, so yes do try and get a professional who knows what they are doing, it's so worth it as that massage actually eased the frequency of them. She's probably only had one in the last month and she was probably start to get them weekly.

Whilst I did it simply as a thank you after reading up on the benefits of massage and children, and seeing their own reactions first hand, I am going to see if I can arrange a professional massage for them once a term. Babies and young children can be just as stressed and anxious as adults and the benefits of massage therapy is a reduction in stress and thus stress hormone levels. It has been said that the benefits are a happier, calmer (Agent Smelly briefly dozed off on the table) and you will even have a healthier child with the lower stress hormone levels. That's got to be a good thing, especially if you have a wriggly, hyper kid or even a worrier.

And we all know how children like to imitate life so last week I was invited into the guest bedroom where Agent Smelly had set up a massage bed, the CD player, some oils, etc. I had to fill in a patient form and then they left the room for me to strip and get under the towel, just like they had. It was awfully funny but really good actually!