02) How do we hypnotize our children?

HOW DO WE HYPNOTIZE OUR CHILDREN?

HYPNOSIS AND SUGGESTION have long been a source of fascination to people. They seem slightly mystical and unreal and yet are well accepted scientifically. Most people have witnessed them, perhaps as part of a stage show, or in getting help to stop smoking, or on a relaxation tape.
   We are familar with the key elements of hypnosis: the use of some device to distract the mind ("Vatch ze vatch"), the commanding ton ("You are feeling sleepy !"), and the rhythmic, repetitious tone of the hypnotist's speech ("Hey ! Wake up !"). We also know about post-hypnotic suggestion, the ability to implant a command that the unsuspecting person later carries out, often to his or her dismay, at a given singal. It all makes for good theater, but also for excellent therapy in the hands of a qualified practitioner.
   What most people don't realize, though, is that hypnosis is an everyday event. Whenever we use certain patterns of speech, we reach into the unconscious minds of our children and program them, even though we have no such intention.
   The old concept-that hypnosis requires an altered state of mind, or trance, has been abandoned. This is only one form of unconscious learning. The rather frightening truth is that the human mind can be programmed in normal waking life beneath the awareness of the person involved. Already in the United States, many sales and advertising people as well as lawyers are being trained in the use of hypnotic methods embedded in nomal business conversation-a scary concept. Fortunately hypnosis can be countered if the subject becomes aware of the process. Accidental hypnosis, though, is part of everyday life. Parents, with-out realizing it, implant messages in their child's mind, and these messages, unless strongly contradicated, will echo on for a lifetime.