Today, I took one of my kids for a yearly check-up. He’s taller than I am these days, so I  had a chance to chat with the receptionists at Long Island Pediatrics, Pam and Christine. Here is some of that conversation:

 

ANN: Hi, ladies. So, you get to see lots of kids come through waiting for shots?

P&C: (both nod heads vigorously.)

ANN: How are the kids? What’s their mood?

P&C: Terrified!

ANN: So, all these kids in this situation day after day, what’s your advice to parents? What works? What really doesn’t work?

C: When the parents sit and talk the kids through it. That’s what really works. 

P: And when they promise prizes! 

ANN: Aha ! So I see lollipops and stickers, those are your prizes?

P&C: And the treasure chest (points)

ANN: So what do some parents do that really doesn’t work?

P&C: Yelling at them, screaming at them. Telling them to toughen up. Instead, they need to let the kids know how important the shots are, how it will keep them from being sick. 

ANN: And promising them a prize.

P&C: (both nod heads vigorously.)

 

Well, their you have it. Sound advice from the trenches! 

 

(And of course…reading Judah Maccabee Goes to the Doctor might help, too. There is one in the LI Pediatrics waiting room…)