1. Schedule their appointments at nap time. Tired children are whiny
without adding the stressors of a visit to stranger that has been know
to puncture them with needles. If your child needs a nap or usually takes
one, schedule the appointment after nap time, when they are refreshed.
They will be much better able to cope with stressful procedures in the
office ( or bank or mall)
2. Don't feed them before coming to the office. Hungry children have less energy available for stressful events. Please give your child a healthy breakfast and lunch. Bring a healthy, non sticky snack and water in case of unexpected delays. Please do not load them up on caffeine. If you forgot this, please just let us know. We try to keep healthy snacks available.
3. Don't bring anything along to occupy them. Delays are just part of healthcare. We try to avoid long waits, but urgent things come up. Expecting a young child to sit quietly in a chair for a long time is unreasonable. My advise to parents of young children is to have a traveling bag with healthy snacks, water, and toys/books/art supplies that they have never seen. You can pick them up at yard sales, second hand stores, or the dollar store. It should be something that they don't play with at home. Children enjoy novel things and are more easily entertained. Please read to your children, we have an area with books that you are welcome to use.
4. Lie to them. Tell them that vaccines aren't going to hurt. Tell them I not going to touch them. When you try to tell them that listening with a stethoscope won't hurt, they won't believe you. If you make a habit of lying to your children, for what ever reasons, they learn very quickly not to believe you. These are the children that scream from the moment they come in the door and I hear parents say "nothing is going to happen" and the child does not even pretend to hear the parent. The child is not in the least comforted by the parents because last time that they came for vaccines or sutures the parents said "nothing is going to happen. It won't hurt."
The parent child relationship is sacred and the child depends on you to form their view of the world. It is so sad, when a child cannot trust their parents to tell them truth about the world. If want this visit and the rest visits to go smoothly, always tell them the truth. You don't have to scare them. Tell them they will get vaccinations that will hurt for a very short time.
5. Tell them that if they don't behave, the nurse is going to give them a shot. This may be one of my pet peeves. Firstly, this is lying to your child and I may address this in another blog in the future. You are teaching your child to fear healthcare.and these fears can last a lifetime. Vaccines or sutures are not a punishment. They are to help them stay healthy, and like exercise, somethings those things hurt. Secondly, it is not my role to discipline your child. Guiding your child's behavior and preparation happens in the way that you interact with them daily.
6 . Surprise them with the visit. Tell them you are going to the store or to McDonald's and then bring them to the office for a well child visit and vaccines. It is so much better to talk about the visit, show them pictures of the office on our website. There are children's books in the library to help. Be truthful and positive. Tell them we are going to listen to their heart and lungs, touch their tummies and legs. Prepare them without instilling fear. They takes their cues from you. We plan to have some open house events for children, so they can come in, look around and be comfortable without any scary things happening.
7. Tell them not to cry. I have seen parents put their hands over their child's mouth and yell at them not to cry when they get vaccines, IV's or other painful procedures. I try to imagine what would happen if I were to do that to them? Tell the adult that the shot won't hurt and not to cry and then send in 3 or 4 huge bouncers to hold them down, put hands over their mouths while I stick needles in them that are in a similar proportion to those used on children- a foot long syringe with a 3 inch needle, stuck about 5 times in each thigh. Yeah, don't cry. Please tell them it is okay to cry. The important thing is not to move. Rehearse things as a game at home.
We will be glad to answer any questions that you or your child may have before coming to the office. Watch for our website notices of our opening day.
