Raising Children Who Are Afraid of the Doctor

Many small children and even older kids are petrified of going to see the doctor. Let’s face it; from the first few months of their lives children are getting poked, prodded and stuck with needles. A lot of kids recognize the white doctor’s coat and associate it with pain. Raising children that are fearful of doctors is difficult and can be downright frustrating but there are tips for parents that can help.

Make an Appointment for Yourself

Once you have realized that you are raising children who are afraid of going to the doctor’s office, you will need to use these tips for parents dealing with this problem. In some of the child development stages, kids are afraid of almost everything. It would be beneficial to your child and your family to work with your child to overcome his or her fears.

Many experts on raising children believe that one of the best tips for parents in this predicament should be to make a private appointment with the child’s pediatrician. During this appointment, you will need to let the doctor know that your child is afraid and ask his advice on how to make him more comfortable before and during the visit. Your doctor should offer advice that will help you to make your kids more amenable to visits to the doctor.

Have a Good Heart to Heart Talk

Parents who are raising children need to understand that communication is really important. Just talking to your kids oftentimes gives the parents a completely new insight into how the child is thinking and feeling. Talking on a one to one basis can help parents understand what their kids are going through.

Regardless of the child development stages, kids deal with anxiety. Unfortunately, anxiety is a part of every human being’s life. When you are raising children to be well adjusted people, the  experts suggest that talking to your pediatrician and letting him know of your child’s fears will definitely help.

Play a Game of Let’s Pretend

Raising children can be incredibly challenging in every one of the child development stages. One of the best tips for parents dealing with kids who are afraid of doctors is to play a game of let’s pretend. This will help alleviate your child’s fears and let him know what will happen at the doctor’s office.

You can use a small flashlight to pretend to look into your child’s nose, ears and throat. Experts suggest that rubbing the child’s back when he needs to say Ah for the doctor to look in his throat helps. Do this at home to practice for the visit.

Wanted: Always Alive

Raising kids usually means making compromises. The experts rarely suggest rewarding behavior that is normal and expected however; enticing a child who has a real fear of going to the doctor is absolutely acceptable. Just don’t promise your child the world. Be realistic.

Simple and small rewards are a great way for parents raising children with real fears to get their kids to go to the doctor. A new coloring book and crayons is a great reward for getting into the doctor’s office exam room. This will keep your child’s mind occupied while waiting for the doctor.

Once the exam is over, you can reward your child with a special lunch, extra TV time or video time or even just a simple trip to the park or zoo. You can even have a “special gift” left at the doctor’s office for the pediatrician to give to your child at the end of the visit.

Parenting Help to Stop Kids from Whining

Whining children tends to be the bane of parenthood. Every parent wants to have a well behaved child who obeys and doesn’t embarrass them by whining. Nearly everyone in the world has been in a grocery store or restaurant and had their shopping trip or dinner ruined by someone’s whining child. By following these parenting help tips, you can teach your child that whining is absolutely unacceptable, either in or away from your home.

Good Parenting 101

You must learn the good parenting skills necessary to nip your child’s whining in the bud. This is especially true for first time and young parents. It may seem easier to give into your child’s demands however; if you do that, parenting help experts state that you will be raising a spoiled brat. Nobody wants to raise kids that are brats or whiners.

Don’t Give In To Your Child

Parenting help advisors warn that you should absolutely never give in to your child when he or she is whining for something. This only teaches the child that he can have whatever he wants so long as he whines loud and long enough for it. Giving in is the opposite of good parenting skills. Young parents tend to give in easier because they are relatively new to raising children.

Warnings Can Work Wonders

When your child begins to whine for something, you must first tell him to stop that behavior. Parenting help experts suggest that if the child continues to whine, you must give him a warning. You should explain that whining is not good behavior and if the whining does not stop, there will be consequences for his behavior.

Many parenting help experts suggest that Time Outs are good parenting tools. Most children don’t want to be put in a time out so they will stop the behavior. Other parenting help advisors believe that children seven years of age and older do better with losing a toy or playtime for whining. It’s best to take the time to tell the child what will happen if the whining doesn’t immediately stop.

Dishing Out the Punishment

Even with the best parenting help and good parenting skills, your child might not stop whining at the threat of consequences. This is a fact of life and it would be a rare occurrence for your child to immediately eliminate the whining. You will at some point need to enforce the rules by dishing out the punishment.

Once the child does not heed your warning, you must be ready and willing to act immediately. If you have decided that Time Out is the punishment for your child, parenting help experts advise that you put him in the Time Out area at once. He should stay there for one minute for every year of age. A three year old should be in Time Out for no longer than three minutes.

If the punishment is for the child to lose a privilege or toy, this must also be taken away swiftly. Once the toy is taken, good parenting advisors believe that the item must be put away where the child cannot access it.

Rewarding Proper Behavior

Parenting help advisors believe that once the child has learned to control his whining, the child may get small rewards for appropriate behavior. For example, if your child used to whine throughout the grocery store and he makes a trip without any whining, a small treat would reinforce the proper behavior. This will let the child know that behaving appropriately is the right thing to do.