MOODTOPIA FOR KIDS

Silverstein proposes alternative medicine techniques for a range of childhood health issues in this nonfiction guide.

In this follow-up to the author’s Moodtopia (2018), Silverstein turns her attention to the application of holistic plant medicine (and its mood-altering effects) to children’s maladies. The earlier book concentrated on “helping women find emotional balance in a chaotic world”; as readers responded to the work, the author became increasingly aware that children are navigating that same world and might benefit from her approach, which, she claims, allows one to control one’s moods (rather than letting moods take the driver’s seat). Drawing on her three decades of experience treating clients, and her parenting of her own seven children, Silverstein presents anecdotes and advice for using such things as herbs, aromatherapy, and essential oils (“potent extracts derived from various aromatic plant parts”) to help children deal with hyperactivity, academic stress, sleeping problems, weak concentration, impulse control, emotional regulation, and ADHD. The author details the various herbal remedies she advocates, like roasted sea sponge extract, which is used as a remedy for coughs. She follows up with basic discussions of physiology and simple health initiatives like drinking plenty of water (she notes that the human brain is 75% water—“That’s why even small changes in hydration have outsized effects on mood, learning, and behavior”). Unlike many proponents of homeopathy, Silverstein largely refrains from overstating its strengths (there’s virtually no clinical proof of the therapeutic value of most “essential oils,” for instance). Rather, she passionately and convincingly positions homeopathy in a broader holistic approach to well-being, asserting that her natural treatments “represent a compassionate and individualized method to address the unique needs of each child.” Claims about the benefits of aromatherapy and some other natural remedies (using chickweed and milk thistle to “calm” ADHD, for instance) may strike some readers, especially anxious parents, as much too close to folklore to be persuasive, but Silverstein’s emphasis on paying close attention to children’s emotional well-being is welcome.

A compelling argument for using natural therapies to help deal with an array of childhood problems.