10

Daily Routines

ONE OF THE very first things parents learn when they have children is the importance of establishing routines—especially at bedtime! Consistent schedules throughout the day make your child feel safe and secure, build confidence, and make life at home more predictable for everyone—which lowers stress levels and allows you to find time for your own self-care. At the heart of self-care lies the Ayurvedic daily routine known as dinacharya.

While your own view of self-care may center around intermittent breaks of time you set aside for restful and enjoyable activities to recharge your batteries, the reality is the effects of these moments tend to be just as fleeting as the moments themselves. Ayurveda has a much wider, sustainable scope of self-care that strives to maintain and preserve health and vitality by living in alignment with the daily and seasonal rhythms of nature. Living in tune with nature allows you to align with circadian rhythms, seasonal rhythms, and the rhythm of life itself so you can lead a long, harmonious life without depletion or stagnation sustained by the flow of nature in the form of food, water, breath, and perception.

Just as day-to-day changes in your child’s environment and lifestyle habits impact their mind-body system, so do shifts in nature. These influences can be either minor or major depending on your child’s age, health, and constitution. The best way you can help your children stay in balance is aligning them with nature’s rhythms. Once you achieve that harmony, the body will automatically begin to flow with nature. Think of it as similar to setting up your office with a proper workstation and necessary equipment to function seamlessly. In the same way, you are putting a framework in place that provides stability so your children can thrive.

Ayurvedic routines can help your child stay in harmony with nature and keep the doshas in balance. This ensures optimal growth and development, prevents health disorders, and sustains a stable and focused mind. Ayurveda views the body as a medium or tool for action and enjoyment in all areas of life. Dinacharya helps us maintain its optimum state.

The Daily Routine

Following a daily routine is like swimming with the current of a river. It helps you flow through your day in harmony with nature’s rhythms and balanced mind-body functions, whereas sporadic, inconsistent lifestyle choices cause unnecessary struggles. When you teach your children the art of the daily routine, you prepare them for a life of balance, strength, and longevity.

Regardless of constitution, children need regular daily routines that align them with nature’s circadian rhythms and their bodies’ functional needs. Establishing routines such as going to bed early and eating at set mealtimes to maintain healthy digestion and metabolism are examples of simple ways Ayurveda can help you keep your child’s constitution in balance. Understanding the daily time cycle of vata-pitta-kapha (as we saw illustrated earlier by the dosha clock in chapter 2) provides another tool you can use to support your children’s lifestyle routines and activities.

Children today are tasked with handling a surplus of stimuli in their lives everywhere they go. All of this excess stimulation can lead to sensory overload and generate restlessness, hyperactivity, and anxiety—expressions of increased vata. The Ayurvedic principle of establishing daily routines creates balance and synergy with the world as it turns and helps restore doshas that have fallen out of sync with nature. Just as your body has a clock, so do the doshas! Understanding which qualities of the doshas are supportive during specific times of the day can help you learn how to support your children’s daily routines and flow according to nature’s wisdom and the cycles of the doshas:

As the sun rises and your children wake up, encourage them to drink a cup of warm water. This will kindle the digestive fire (agni) and help create a natural urge for a bowel movement, a sign of good health first thing in the morning. Encourage your children to allow this urge, but not to forcefully create the urge as this will aggravate vata and create problems in the future. It’s important to note your child should follow all of their different natural urges such as urinating, sneezing, coughing, thirst, hunger, yawning, and crying, for example. Denying or holding on to these natural urges can result in vata imbalances along with specific disorders that correlate to the resisted urge. For example, holding on to the urge to have a bowel movement can cause headaches and muscle cramps.

Oral Care

Tooth brushing cleanses the mouth, strengthens the gums, kills bacteria, improves bad breath, and reduces excess kapha. Cleansing the palate first thing in the morning also helps your child enjoy all the tastes of a nourishing breakfast! Traditionally, Ayurveda uses tooth powders made from a combination of herbs such as neem, babul, khadira, and karanja for daily hygiene regimens. Nowadays, people use toothpastes, of course, many of which are formulated with ingredients that lead to sublingual absorption of chemicals. Regular use of these products causes accumulation over time and is especially unhealthy for children. The sooner you introduce your children to natural ingredients the better! Fortunately, there are many commercial toothpastes available today in natural food markets and from Ayurvedic product suppliers formulated with the recommended Ayurvedic herbs that come in refreshing flavors great for kids and adults. Teeth should be cleaned in the morning, at night, and after each meal. Exceptions to brushing are anytime your child has a throat infection, mouth ulcers, problems with the tongue, palate, or lips, or specific dental problems.

Has your child ever seen you brush your tongue or use a tongue scraper? Teaching your child to observe different textures, coatings, and cracks on their tongue can be a fun, exploratory process you can do together as part of a morning routine. Using a stainless steel or copper tongue cleaner, scrape the tongue gently after brushing the teeth. Younger children can initially brush their tongue with a soft toothbrush. This simple routine helps remove the coating from the tongue—an indication of ama—eliminates bad breath, and improves your sense of taste.

Ayurvedic texts recommend gargling or swishing with herbal teas made from simple herbs—a much better alternative to harsh commercial mouthwashes (see this page for an Ayurvedic mouth rinse recipe). This practice soothes the voice, cleanses the mouth, keeps the lips moist, and can reduce tendencies to develop stomatitis—inflammation of the oral cavity. Common practices these days include completing your oral hygiene routines with herbal oils (Ayurvedic oil pulling) such as Arimedadi Thailam or a light tea made from licorice powder combined with a little raw honey—another simple recipe you can mix up with your children! Place the oil or herbal wash in the mouth after brushing and tongue scraping, then gargle or swish for a few minutes before spitting it out. Do not swallow.

Bathing

Kids get dirty! Giving your children a bath or shower once or twice a day not only cleanses the dirt and sweat from their bodies but also energizes the body, mind, and senses. Bathing improves digestion, removes lethargy, and opens the body channels for better circulation and elimination of toxins. Bathe your child in warm water unless you have a child with a pitta constitution and the weather is very hot—then milder water would be better. Hot water is always contraindicated for hair washing as Ayurveda considers direct applications of heat unhealthy for the eyes and hair. For the same reason, it’s preferable to towel-dry your child’s hair and scalp after a shower instead of using a hot blow-dryer. If you do use a blow-dryer, choose a cool or low setting. Take care to always make sure you thoroughly dry your child’s hair as a wet scalp increases natural tendencies toward kapha disorders such as congestion and headaches.

Ideal times for bathing are in the morning after your child has a bowel movement or before a meal. If you’re accustomed to bathing your children in the evening as part of a relaxing bedtime routine, do so either before dinner or an hour afterward. Bathing after a meal causes indigestion, bloating, and a delay in the downward movement of food from the stomach to the intestines and alters blood circulation necessary for the digestive process. In simpler terms, this can compromise agni and create sluggishness in your child’s system. Avoid bathing your child during periods of illness.

soaps and lotions

Did you know your child’s skin can eat, drink, and breathe? It may come as a surprise to some parents that paying close attention to the ingredient lists on your child’s soaps, shampoos, and lotions is every bit as important as reading food labels. Every product you apply to your child’s body is directly absorbed into their system. A child’s skin is 30 percent thinner than adults, leaving them more vulnerable to dermal absorption of toxic chemicals lurking on the skin’s surface. These exposures can lead to conditions such as cancer, nervous system damage, allergies, hormone disruption, and eczema. There are many resources available today that can help parents identify and avoid dangerous ingredients found in some children’s body care products. As a general rule, avoid personal care and skincare products that contain petroleum derivatives and other chemical ingredients.

Traditionally, Ayurveda makes natural cleansing scrubs that gently remove the oils and dirt from a child’s sensitive skin from the flour of lentils, chickpeas, and mung beans. This is a fun activity you can do at home with your kids that shows them how to begin creating natural skincare and beauty routines—something older children and adolescents especially love! Start by making different pastes from these simple ingredients and experimenting with varying consistencies by adding a little water or milk—especially beneficial for children who have a tendency toward dry skin. You can also add herbs such as Indian gooseberry (amalaki) or sandalwood powder into the pastes to enhance skin quality or even a few drops of rosewater—an Ayurvedic favorite for skincare recipes known for its softening, soothing properties and uplifting aroma.

Oil Application

Abhyanga, or oil application to the body and scalp, is considered an important daily routine for both children and adults in Ayurveda and does wonders to pacify vata, which tends to get aggravated from the day’s activities. Oleation prevents dryness and degeneration, relieves tiredness, strengthens the body, improves vision, enhances nourishment, improves skin quality, and supports relaxation and sound sleep.

Not only is this a beautiful bonding experience for you and your children, but it also teaches them the importance of making time for their own self-care in the years to come. Set aside at least fifteen minutes to give your child an oil massage—the minimum amount of time it takes for the oil to be fully absorbed into the skin and strengthen and nourish the deeper tissues of the body. Afterward, your child can take a bath or shower with warm water and rinse the oil off with a natural soap or one of the homemade cleansing pastes mentioned earlier.

Chances are high you might find it difficult to work this practice into your child’s routine on a daily basis—especially if your own time for self-care is limited! Your child will benefit from this loving ritual even once or twice a week, which may also create time for you to experience the benefits of abhyanga for yourself. The Sanskrit word sneha means both “love” and “oil.” Taking the time to nurture your body with this ancient healing practice can echo the same experience and feelings of being deeply loved. Implementing this routine into your children’s lives also supports them to grow up with a healthy body image and cultivate self-love and acceptance.

On the days you don’t have time to give your children a whole-body massage, you can apply a few drops of oil to the soles of their feet and the crown of their head. This simple routine will cool down your child’s system and promote deep relaxation and sound sleep. This traditional practice is especially beneficial for children who have disturbed sleep or trouble falling asleep. Avoid applying oil to the body or scalp if your child has a fever, cold, runny nose, or congestion and wait an additional day after symptoms resolve to resume oil applications.

AYURVEDIC HERBAL OILS

The most commonly used oil for abhyanga application in children is coconut oil, especially the virgin coconut oil made from coconut milk. Ayurveda recommends many formulated herbal oils you can use based on your child’s constitution along with functional oils to support specific health needs. These include Lakshadi Thailam oil for supporting normal skeletal growth and development, joint mobility, and optimal function of the nervous system. Nalpamaradi Keram oil is popular for its skincare properties, a classic formulation known to maintain radiant, soft, and illuminated skin. This particular oil is also used to treat a wide range of skin infections such as pruritus, scabies, and eczema and for skin irregularities like uneven skin tone and blemishes. You will find common therapeutic and massage oils you can select according to your child’s dosha in the table at the end of chapter 16. Deciding which herbal-infused oils are best for your child can easily be assessed with your vaidya or Ayurvedic practitioner.

Hair and Scalp Care

The key principles to keeping your child’s scalp and hair healthy are to maintain moisture or slight oiliness on the scalp as well as avoiding hot showers and hair dryers. Regular oil application to the scalp not only keeps hair lustrous and healthy but can improve sleep quality, support and maintain good vision, improve focus, and calm the mind. It can also strengthen the bones of the skull, prevent headaches, and sharpen the senses.

One of the most rejuvenating hair and scalp care oils is Kesini oil, formulated from a unique base of freshly pressed castor and coconut oils along with bacopa (brahmi), hibiscus, and Indian gooseberry (amalaki). This tonic revitalizes, moisturizes, and nourishes the scalp and hair roots and maintains the hair’s natural color and texture. Kesini oil also helps regulate blood circulation to hair follicles and promotes luster and shine. The usual method is to apply oil to the scalp using gentle massage and keep it on for at least fifteen to twenty minutes before washing it out. Other specific oils for scalp application suggested in Ayurveda are in chapter 16.

Nose and Ear Care

Adopting the practice of oil application, or nasya, in your child’s nose and ear care routines helps to strengthen the mind and body. Children above the age of seven can apply a drop of Anu Thailam oil in each nostril once a day using a nasal dropper, a practice known to help stabilize the mind and emotions. Ayurveda considers nasya a doorway to the brain, the location of all the centers of the sense organs and organs of action. As part of a daily routine, nasya enhances sensory acuity, improves immune resistance, sharpens the sense organs, and prevents diseases above the neck such as sinus problems, migraines, headaches, and neck stiffness. It strengthens the joints in the scalp and face and improves the texture of the skin and clarity of the voice.

To perform nasya at home, have your child lie down with their head tilted back slightly as you administer one drop of warm oil into each nostril, then ask them to lightly sniff. Should any oil come into the throat or mouth, have them spit it out and try not to swallow it. Nasya should not be performed within an hour of eating, and there should be at least thirty minutes between nasya practice and bathing.

According to Ayurveda, the ear is a vata-predominant sense organ, and regular oil application can help pacify vata and associated disturbances of the ear. Ayurvedic ear care can be especially helpful to improve hearing and prevent ringing in the ears. This practice also loosens earwax, strengthens the ear bones and eardrums, and prevents neck stiffness. Simply instill a few drops of warm sesame oil or Anu Thailam in both of your child’s ears. This can be done at the same time as nasya since your child will already be lying down. For earaches, garlic or clove oil is traditionally used. Try to avoid exposing your children to loud music and noises. You can also keep cold air from rushing into your child’s ears by placing small cotton balls inside the ears during cold weather—a popular tip among parents!

Ayurveda is in no way a prescriptive science. It is a system of principles and guidelines to help support a long, healthy life that you can choose to integrate in whichever ways work best. There is no rule that says you must adopt every one of these lifestyle practices or daily routines. In fact, that would cause undue feelings of stress—exactly what Ayurveda strives to counterbalance! How much should you do? You should do as much or as little as is practically possible given your life circumstances, and focus on the practices you feel will most benefit your children.

The key philosophy in Ayurveda is that making even small changes to your lifestyle can create significant positive shifts. Your intention to make positive changes in your child’s life—no matter how many or few—becomes the reflection of your true love and care as a parent. Simplicity and consistency are two watchwords for positive health. Taking simple, small steps consistently is better than striving for monumental changes occasionally!