Medicine Cabinet | Armoire à Pharmacie

Yesterday my son slid underneath our iron dining chair (trying to catch a ball) only to have the back of the chair land solidly on his left cheek. Oouuuch!! Not sure what was worse - the piercing scream he let out or the hit...  so after big hugs and an ice pack, I took off to the medicine cabinet for my miracle cure: arnica, a homeopathic treatment widely used in France. This isn't an endorsement of any kind, but something I just had to share because:

Last year when I walked into my son's classroom to pick him up from school, I found his face bruised and bloodied from a bad fall onto the pavement at recess. I thought he had been beaten up, or worse. His teacher calmly walked over and authoritatively recommended arnica, lauding its effectiveness. "C'est très efficace," she smiled.  At the time, I wasn't  well versed on homeopathy but have since become a big fan of this "alternative medicine" that uses the body's natural healing system, has been around for centuries and most importantly, just plain works. So I tried it on my son and... immediately the swelling went down and within 1-2 days, the bruising on his face virtually disappeared - as in no trace of black and blue. I could go on and on how amazed I am by this product, but I'll just say that today my armoire à pharmacie (medicine cabinet) is never without the following:

• arnica cream (topical) and arnica montana (pellets - as shown above) for bruises
• oscillococcinum for the onset of a cold and body aches 
• calendula cream for burns, scrapes and cuts

I've since learned that members of my French family swear by arnica. It's available in all the pharmacies in France and fortunately now stocked in the United States as well.

This is a French teacher's tip to me (and believe me French tips don't come often) and my tip (as a mother of two boys) to you ... stay safe!