Touching the Future: Gentle Massage for Children Feature article for Massage Magazine, November 2006. Author: Shay Beider Excerpted below... Providing gentle massage to children is one of the great joys a massage therapist can experience. Children respond very differently to touch and are often willing and excited recipients. Typically, they like to engage more actively than adults when receiving massage and a variety of different techniques can be used to enhance their massage experience. Surprisingly, pediatric massage is a field that has been given very little attention until now. Pediatric massage is a natural extension of working with the whole family and for massage therapists an outstanding way to expand their practice into a family practice. It is a special opportunity to be able to work with children and parents and to demonstrate simple massage strokes that parents can use with their children. Pediatric massage differs from infant massage, which is largely focused on the first few years of life. Pediatric massage includes massage for toddlers, pre school and school age children, and adolescents and young adults. One of the early pioneers in the field of pediatric massage is Marybetts Sinclair, who has written one of the few books on the subject, Pediatric Massage Therapy. She says that in her own practice as a massage therapist working with adults she saw, “so many problems that could have been helped with massage during their childhood—a birth injury never healed causing structural problems, early emotional trauma stored in adult bodies, or trigger points from childhood injuries causing adult pain and tightness.” When Marybetts had the opportunity to work with a severely disabled child she learned that “massage could be truly healing for a child, whether or not she could see, whether or not she could hear, and whether or not she could communicate in words.” Children at each stage of growth and development have different physical, emotional, and psychological needs. One of the pleasures of massaging children is that practitioners become attuned to providing what is needed at each life stage and the relationship between the massage therapist and child evolves over time. Physiologically, children’s bodies differ from adults in significant ways. In children, the nervous system develops progressively and is somewhat predictive by age. For this reason, massage therapists working with children need to practice ongoing communication so they can best understand the sensations that children are feeling. Open communication is a key element of massaging children. In the process of maturing from infancy to adolescence, significant emotional and psychological development takes place. At each stage of growth and development, there are important considerations for massage therapists. Verbal and non-verbal communication significantly impact whether children and adolescents feel safe and enjoy the massage. In approaching children and adolescents, friendly body language is important. For very young children, maintaining close proximity to the parent can minimize tension. When possible, clearly establishing a positive relationship with the parent can help the child to relax. This might include shaking the parent’s hand, smiling warmly, or demonstrating a simple massage stroke for the child on the parent’s hand. It is necessary to explain massage in age appropriate ways. Not all children will know the word massage and different words can be substituted when working with young children. Letting children know that massage should always feel good and that they can stop the massage at any time is important. Always asking permission to touch helps children establish a healthy sense of boundaries and self-mastery. Storytelling is a wonderful method of communicating with children during massage. Toddlers, preschoolers, and school age children especially enjoy stories that integrate playful massage strokes and allow them to participate in the telling of the story. An example would be asking them what color they would like massaged on various areas of their body. Or maybe there is a special animal they would like you to draw on their back and tell them a story about that animal. There are many wonderful stories that have been developed for massaging children that can be learned in pediatric massage trainings. From personal experience, one of the joys of doing this work is that you have the opportunity to directly witness the ways that massage can positively affect children and their family members. Gentle loving touch helps to support respectful and non-violent communication in the family. I have seen siblings learn to find more positive ways of engaging with one another when using massage and storytelling. Parents have often told me that after massage is introduced they find their children are less aggressive toward one another and that the home becomes more peaceful. Once children learn that they can express themselves in this way, a new opportunity for nonverbal communication is established. One of the significant social impacts of massage for children and young adults is that is helps to establish a sense of personal boundaries and an awareness of the types of touch that do and do not feel good. Appropriate and respectful massage supports children in learning at a very young age about ‘good touch’ and forming a positive body image. This knowledge can serve them well in their future relationships. Although infant massage training has been widely utilized for many years, there have been far fewer pediatric massage trainings. In 2005, I developed Gentle Massage for Children so that I would have the opportunity to teach this work to an increasing number of massage practitioners, nurses, and physical and occupational therapists that would like to work with children. Gentle Massage for Children offers courses in massaging children with and without physical and mental challenges. A variety of courses are offered including how to work with children in medical settings such as hospitals and hospices. Many healthcare professionals have long known the benefits of massage therapy for their pediatric patients. Doctor Lonnie Zeltzer M.D., the Director of the UCLA Pediatric Pain Program has said, “Massage has been shown to be beneficial to children with chronic pain… I highly recommend massage therapy for newborns, sick children, those with chronic disease, and those at end of life.” It seems that a natural extension of massage school curricula would be to include pediatric massage training, so that massage therapists can learn to expand their practices to include the littlest of clients. There are several wonderful techniques and modified massage strokes that can be learned for working with children. The essence of massage for children is providing safe and loving touch that encourages a positive experience in the body and that nurtures healthy relationships. It can be a wonderful method for enhancing close relationships in the family and can support children in developing a deep personal sense of connection to their bodies and themselves.