I was looking at blogs on google reader and i came across Vic`s six-year-old impression of the doctor`s office. It is interesting because he has a similar reaction to the doctors as i did when i was his age.
“Things shifted as scary became horrifying. The doctor came out of his little work room and brought me into his examining room. I resisted by telling him to wait for my mom to bring me in, but I supposed it was fine. It was, until he started talking to me. I was speechless and too frightened to talk thinking that if i said something wrong, he would possibly shoot me. I trembled with fear and then came this one shot. “
The irrational fear of the doctors office is common among little kids these days for fear of a shot. Shots at the doctors office are meant to MONITOR the patients` health and not meant to scare little kids, but they get wrong impression from the pointy needles and huge tongue depressors. The reason that kids are afraid of the doctors office is because they aren’t certain of what will happen next. If doctors spend a little bit of time explaining the procedure then the patient will be more at ease during the visit. The comfort of parent accompaniment can make the experience much less traumatising. Another thing that can help ease the STRESS of the getting a shot at the doctors office is having a skilled shot giver, it is their JOB to make the shot quick, easy, and painless.
Another quote i found from Vic’s blog paints a clearer picture of what thoughts go through young patients heads.
“Rumors or the truth, are always talked about by kids when they return from a visit to the doctor's. The most frightening thing is the shots that has no escape but to take them. “
Stories told by other kids that had been to the doctors before can skew a little kid’s idea of what the doctors office is actually like. The lies told by tricky kids can really scare people like Vic and make them scared of shots and the doctors in general.
