By Dr. Kiya L. Immergluck, EFT-ADV

Dear Gary,

Recently, I had the privilege of teaching EFT to a number of pre-school children and their mothers.  In each case, the Mom heard about EFT and specifically, Tappy Bear, a cuddly teddy bear with buttons to represent the basic tapping points.  In one particular case, “Mrs. Jones” called me on a Sunday asking for an emergency session that same day.

Her son Joey is 5 years old and painfully shy.  It was very difficult to convince him to go to kindergarten at the beginning of the year, but after having had a 2-week vacation, he absolutely refused to go back.  I made a house call and brought a Tappy Bear for Joey.  I went to the house with low expectations.  I surrogate tapped for Joey (and prayed too) on my way:

Even though I don’t like talking to strangers, I’m a great kid.

Even though I’m scared to go back to school, I’m a great kid….

Even though I’m scared to talk to anyone, I’m a great kid.

When I arrived, Mrs. Jones warned me that Joey just cried when she explained that “a lady was coming to play with you with a teddy bear.”  He was interested in the bear, but wanted nothing to do with the lady.  He declared to his Mom, “I won’t talk to her - I won’t even look at her!”

I walked into the living room and saw a tiny little boy huddled into the cushions of the couch with his face turned away.  I came in very quietly and whispered, “Tappy Bear is scared … can you help him?”

What happened next seemed nothing short of a miracle to me and to Joey’s Mom.  I was prepared to spend an hour helping Joey feel safe enough to look at me and maybe say hello to me.  Instead, Joey jumped off the couch, came right over and gently cuddled Tappy Bear.

I brought along a little illustrated book I wrote called “Tappy Bear is Scared of the Dark” and began reading it to Joey as a way to teach him the tapping points.  My theory is that most very young children love to be “helpers” and would enjoy helping Tappy Bear get over his fears.

Whenever the story suggested that Joey tap on the bear and say, I’m a great bear, Joey spontaneously began tapping on himself and the bear saying, I’m a great kid AND I’m a great bear!  By the time we got done with the story, Joey was comfortable tapping on the bear and on himself.  He was also very comfortable talking with me!

I said at the end of the story, “You know, Tappy Bear is also scared to go to school.  Do you think we could help him?”

Joey was very eager to help Tappy Bear again, and when I asked him what Tappy was afraid of, he told me many very specific complaints that “Tappy Bear” had:

Tappy Bear is scared that he can’t do the work…

Tappy Bear is scared that he can’t talk to the other kids…

Tappy Bear doesn’t like that the school day is too long…

So, Joey verbalized exactly what issues he needed to tap on, and I taught Joey to hold his arms outstretched to show that Tappy Bear was very, very upset.  Then, I showed him how to bring his hands closer and closer together to show that Tappy was getting less and less scared.  Finally, I showed him how to have his palms touch (like hands in prayer) to indicate that the fears were completely gone.

By the end of the session, Joey collapsed all of Tappy’s fears about school, and even added in some extra fears about creepy, crawly bugs.  The session went very well and Joey was smiling and shook my hand when I left.

Mrs. Jones reported that Joey wasn’t thrilled to go to school the next day, but the extreme fears were definitely greatly reduced.  Joey loves his Tappy Bear and enjoys having Tappy’s story read to him again and again!

Tappy Bear is a wonderful tool for teaching EFT to young children, and it is also a terrific icebreaker with shy and non-communicative children.

Blessings,

Kiya