Here we are, human beings with senses that are critical in our ability to develop on this Earth. We have to cope with gravity, and as infants we progress from just lifting our heads to gradually becoming upright and finding joy in independent movement.  As this is happening, we explore with our bodies, with our eyes, our ears, and our senses of touch and smell.  But we don’t do all of this on our own, in a void.  An infant’s right is to have the loving care and touch of an adult who dotes on him or her.  It is critical in the first year for this bonding, this sense of being secure and loved, to occur.  Usually, when a child has this important foundation for life, the senses come together well; sensory integration happens in a smooth progression through the early years. 

Karin appeared sad and discouraged. Having recently become part of The Equinox Program, this shy ten-year-old adoptee, was exploring issues surrounding personal power and assertiveness. Karin was grooming Jessie, a young Quarter Horse mare. Her assignment was to brush the horse and subsequently pick her hooves.

Those of us who were lucky enough as children to play in the sandbox baking mud cookies or plant seeds in a severed milk carton, can recall how much fun this was!  Most young children love to be outside, to dig in the earth, and to create.  Planting and caring for a garden with your child can benefit your family in ways that go well beyond the cukes and carrots that result. 

In 1982, my husband and I adopted three birth brothers who were then 8, 9 and almost 13.  They’d come to us through the local social services agency after numerous foster home placements.  They came carrying plenty of baggage from the original abuse and neglect that led to placement, the nutritional deficiencies that were suspected in early life, the learning disabilities they all demonstrated in school and so on.  I was a special education teacher then, not a Classical Homeopath like I am now.  I knew how to advocate for them with schools and therapists.  But I didn’t know how to give them the enormous benefits of homeopathy then and I wish I could turn back the clock to those days!!