Contributed by Nicholine Akou

Trauma refers to a psychological and emotional retort to a devastating occurrence that took place sometime ago and the memories live afresh in the life of the victim through flashbacks. Incidents such as accident, long hospitalization, rape, constant beatings and more are very difficult to let go and it can cause sleep disorders, alienation and extreme anger.  For sure, it is difficult to handle a traumatized adult what more of a child? Trauma in kids varies from their ages and according to the incidents that put them in such state. My experience of handling a traumatized child (7 years old) undergoing long hospitalization was not easy at all but I had to look for a means to get him out of that terrible situation. Below are few natural ways you can use to get your kid out of trauma.

Limit social media: social media in this 21st century is a fascinator of both good and evil. It is very necessary to avoid pictures and videos that are terrifying which can easily remind your child of a similar experience he/she had in the past so as to get the child out from the past. This particular point goes for kids between 6 – 17 years old who can easily identify an act on social media. Imagine a kid watching a kid who has been raped or watching a video of a lady who is raped to death. Your child might never come out of that traumatic experience so be careful with what he or she watches on social media.

Do not recount the scene in the child’s presence: it is advisable not to recount the scene in the presence of the child especially if he/she has caused a damage that can never be fix. Recounting the scene will make the kid to blame his/herself forever. You not mentioning it is a sign that you have forgiven the child and what happened was an accident and he too will equally grow up forgiving his/herself of the incident that happened. I know of a kid who mistakenly pierced the younger brother’s eye and it had to be removed. It took the mother a longer time to convince the child and equally for the younger brother to grow up forgiving him for that particular incident. As a parent you have a bigger role to play.

Make the child speak out; at times, it is important to make the child speak out. For this point to work, you have to make sure that you have created an atmosphere where your child can always open up to you. This is because, your child can be undergoing trauma and you don’t know what exactly is traumatizing the child so it will be difficult for you to handle such case. So, help the child speak out and when he/she does, it will be easy for the kid to let go.

Distract the child physically: sometimes you just need to distract the child physically and everything will be fine again. Let the kid play with friends or younger ones or take the child for a vacation to a different environment or prepare the child‘s favourite dish. Any of the above can help relief the child from trauma.

Help the child to regain confidence: you have to help the child to regain confidence. Some kids are traumatized to the extent that they think of committing suicide. I could not helped it when my younger brother cried out that he prefers death than to be undergoing painful medication. He started refusing food, he didn’t want to talk or see anybody and it took us time to get him out of that situation and gave him hopes that he could still live like any other human. As a parent, regaining your child’s confidence’ you have to be very patient and consistent too. Do not get angry even though it is very difficult at times. Do your best and equally keep praying for your child.

 There are a hundred ways to deal with a traumatized kid but the few points mentioned above are what I used and equally watched a good number of people using the same points which have been a great help to us all.  You can try them and equally visit other sites for more. All I wish is a quick recovery for your kid. Do leave a comment or ask questions in the comment section below  

                                                                                   Edited by Emiliene Alemkeng