Herbal Parenting: When your kid bashes their knee

The dreaded announcement:

"mOm ..... Sis is hUrrrrt...... uh ...... baAad"

My girl is known to ignore anything that isn't catastrophic. I'm not sure how she got this rock-steady - but thank heavens because I would be a blubbering mess otherwise, well, like I nearly am when her younger brother gets hurt.

"OK hunny ..... come on over, let's see"

Ohhhh. hm .... breathe deep honey, it's not so bad. (ok so I can almost see the bone, but we don't say that, do we? ... silent gag...)

Her 'tough' face is looking rather pasty. But she breathes, and permits a small, adrenaline induced shutter to run through her.

I think to myself, ugh what to do. Stop infection, stop the pain. My two main goals. In fact, they should almost be the other way around when you are treating your 11 year old child - because the first thing you want to ensure is this: Don't make it hurt any worse!

My trusty spice cabinet has the first key: Cayenne powder. Did I post about this before? I used it a couple years ago for the first time, when a window slammed down on my finger. It reliably stops excess bleeding and also dulls the pain. It's not a tincture so I don't worry about it stinging extra or dripping all over the place and preventing a bandage. It also prevents bacteria from making a home in the wound.

My second remedies are Rescue Remedy. First me, then the child.

Then Meadowsweet or other strongly salicylic herb, internally to deal with the pain, and externally for both cleansing the wound if needed, and also for helping to relieve the local pain. I only put a couple drops in, as the wound had begun to coagulate, but it will work well for a wound wash if needed.

Thirdly, I wrap. I don't say band-aid here because we didn't use a band aid. They aren't very breathable, or helpful. In this case, pine pitch works wonders. It helps keep away the pain, and packs the wound with sticky healing magic. In this case, I didn't have any fresh, but I do have some that I harvested, rolled into balls and coated with rose petal powder last summer - the inside is still quite soft, making it easy to open up and use.

I did pull out my favorite books and look for some quick references about what do do. I indexed cuts, first aid, and wounds .... and frankly didn't find anything that seemed better and in some I didn't even find any quick reference, to my disappointment. What kid wants alcohol or peroxide poured on their fresh wound? I'm very thankful that I had a few things stored in my memory for emergency use. It's no good to have a wounded child and nothing in mind for it... Can you imagine? "sit here honey, while I go read some books. I'll get back to you on that smashed up leg of yours."

!!

The last remedy to mention here, that I didn't use but have in the past, are essential oils. Lavender, Tea Tree, and Blue Chamomile are all widely used for an array of first aid needs including open wounds and burns. The latter I have used with the greatest most reliable results. Lavender and Tea tree seem to have variable results - from sighs of relief to curdling screams of burning stinging pain. Unless the would MUST be cleaned out with something liquid, my first choice is an antibiotic-styptic powder.

Well, she's a good sport - but there'll be no soccer this week. Oh, and no more 'balancing' on the guard rails, either.