Tuesday, August 22, 2006

School Days, Update Your Booster Days…..

As the end of summer gets closer and closer, the number of school physicals grows exponentially. I have been recruited more of late to restrain or assist in the wrangling of kids who are in need of immunizations in order to attend school. As well as those kids who happen to be due their next round of inoculations.

Not being a parent myself, I throw these scenarios out there to any parents who might peruse my site. I have narrowed down the kids receiving their shots into a few categories; let me know what you think:

Stoic – these are the kids who have the look of terror in their eyes but remain quite still and receive their booster with little to no fuss. Typically the stoic child’s parent is more of a wreck than the child.

Petrified – these are the kids whose parent is talking them off the ledge the entire time. These parents are more than capable of keeping the child still so that the rest of us can move things along as quickly as possible. The petrified child will most likely cry but will not otherwise deter the needle from hitting its target.

Inconsolable – these are the kids whose parents most likely had terrible memories of receiving shots themselves. Typically, before I get into the room to help, the child is planning his/her escape or bartering for anything but the needle. Ear piercing screams accompanied by much arm flailing and leg kicking. We haven’t even uncapped the needle yet. The parent of this child most definitely cannot circumvent the movement of their offspring. The parent is so stressed out by the child’s reaction to the impending doom that not only do they not comprehend the instructions on how to comfort the child while three of us are preparing for battle, they are just not able to participate.

In my humble opinion, the parent’s of the inconsolable children just shouldn’t be in the room during the shots. It really makes the whole process more difficult, especially for the child. In defense of these school aged children; I don’t remember having to receive more than one shot a time as a kid. I have been in the room where the child can receive up to four inoculations at once. Talk about being stressed out; you certainly cannot blame the kid for being scared. We do our best to make the process as painless as possible but when faced with a child who is screaming bloody murder before we even enter the room and a parent who goes limp with indecision, things can go south quickly.

These are my observations. For the record, my own Mom would threaten me with a visit to the doctor for a shot anytime I misbehaved. Obviously, that wasn’t the smartest thing she has ever done but I most likely deserved those threats and many more that she may have missed. However, I was the stoic type of child. That is of course after my Mom had to catch me and get me in the car for the visit to the doctor. Once in public, we were only allowed to be stoic.

11 comments:

HotForSimon said...

This isn't a dig at your mom by any means, but working in the medical field myself (more or less) I've seen parents in the DR's offices threaten their kids with things like "you better sit down and be good, or that DR is going to give you a shot with a big fat needle" or something along those lines...and then they wonder why their kids are afraid of needles and throw a fit whenever it's time to go to the DR for any reason.

Wicked H said...

HFS: She deserves the dig. I also deserved the threats. But that is neither her nor there. I am truly curious as to how other parents approach the whole subject of preparing their kids for shots. I have seen the gamut in the past month....

wallofdenial said...

My wife just walked her through the process starting a couple of days in advance and there was no problems. A little info goes a long way

Wicked H said...

Dave: Sounds like good advice to me.

t2ed said...

Kid wrangling would be more fun if they actually let you use ropes.

Then we could start a profesional Kid Wranglin' Circuit, let Lee Jeans sponsor it, televise it on CMT and make a mint.

"Chris Spangler from Amarillo has a fiesty lil red head 10 year old name a Chucky lookin' to bust out of chute 3."

Wicked H said...

t2ed: Hey! Now I have an excuse to wear my chaps when I am asked to wrangle those kids. Wahoo!

Wicked H said...

Miss Britt: See now you have the right idea, admit that you cannot go through with it and bring along some support. Bravo!

Crazy Lady said...

I seem to have produced the stoic type of children. My eldest has been thru so much medical crap in his short life he just stick his arm out and lets them have at it. But he holds my hand and squeezes for all he's worth. The other two seem to feel the need to live up to his reputation. Besides, they all know it will be over in just a second anyway!

HotForSimon said...

Chaps???

I know what I'm getting you for your birthday!!!! HAHA!!

Unknown said...

My mom never used threats and I was always good about getting shots, until an innoculation hit a nerve and my leg was sore for a week. After that, it was all over for her.

Janet said...

I was never too afraid of shots as a kid, but you're right. Having the parents there for kids who are can't help matters much.

Thanks for the challenge earlier!:)