Children

For our children it is never easy to get up, but when mornings become more cold and dark it looks like impossible to encourage them to leave a warm bed and go to school. When they only hear your voice they turn on their stomach with the pillow over their head and a strong desire of non-existing. Use this moment to give them a nice and invigorating massage. It works on partners as well!

1. Place both hands on the upper part of your child’s back, between the shoulder blades
2. Be sure that you don’t touch the spine
3. Keep your palm flat and don’t spread out the fingers
4. Start rubbing by sliding alternately your hands. When one slides down, another slides up
5. Start slowly remembering that the person might still sleep.
6. Gradually speed up keeping the rhythm and dynamism of the movement
7. After a while you should feel the nice warmth under your palms
8. Change the rhythm now for slow again and gradually speed up
9. Repeat several times

Originally published in Stella Magazine, the weekly supplement of The Sunday Telegraph