Preparing Your Child 1 Simon Anderson CCLS

Preparation for Hospitalization

One of the biggest keys to making sure that your childs hospitalization is as comfortable and least terrifying as possible is to prepare them for what they are about to go through as best as you can. There are many different variables that factor in to how you prepare your child. These variables include things such as the age of the child, duration of hospital stay, and the reason for seeking hospital treatment. With a few tips, you can help to make your child feel more comfortable and less anxious about staying in a hospital for an extended period of time. Communication is a huge aspect of preparing your child for the hospital. It is important that as a parent you fully understand and familiarize yourself with your childs illness or condition the best that you can. This will make it easier to explain to your child what exactly he or she is going there for and what they can expect to happen while they are there at the hospital. It is also very important to give age-appropriate information to your child. A child understands and thinks about things very differently as they age and mature. In the end, you know your child best so be sure to use whatever techniques you feel prudent to ensure that your child understands as much information as possible.

Preparing Your Child 2 Simon Anderson CCLS

As a parent you must ask as many questions as possible from a doctor regarding the specifics of the illness or injury your child has and also about the hospital itself. Become aware of all the facilities that the hospital has to offer as well as getting to know the doctors, physicians, specialists and nurses who will be working together as a cohesive unit with you as well as your child. Most importantly, explain to your child that they are not alone. Someone will always be there for them whether its you as the parent or some other medical professional. If your child seems hesitant or feels uncomfortable, ensure them that this is the best thing to do. It is the professional and doctors job to make people feel better and they are going to do everything they possibly can to do so. Your child will feed off of your body language. If you explain to them in a confident, soothing way, your child will pick up on that and they generally begin to relax and feel more at ease about the information they are receiving. As a parent you never want to see your child in any type of pain or discomfort. Unfortunately, pain is an inevitable aspect of a childs hospital stay. This is when your child needs you there the most to comfort them. Some different ways that you can help your child to prepare for any type of pain is to be as straight forward with them as possible and to assure them that the pain is only temporary and will go away shortly. Help them to realize that the doctors are there to make the pain go away and they will make them feel better. Let your child know that the doctors can be trusted and that they will do everything in their power to create healing and a sense of comfort.

Preparing Your Child 3 Simon Anderson CCLS

Another aspect of preparing your child for hospitalization can be through behavioral approaches. An example of this would be systematic desensitization, which is showing some form of stimuli that elicits fear or anxiety to the child and then introducing that stimulus to them gradually so they get more used to whatever that specific stimuli may be and helping that child to feel less fearful and anxious. For this particular situation of a hospital stay, the most common form of stimuli that will elicit this fear would be the hospital itself. Most children often times find the hospital to be an unpleasant place and not a type of place where they know they will enjoy. In order to help with this, what you can do as a parent is stress how important it is that they go to the hospital because the hospitals professional staff can help with the familys situation. You can also express to your child how brave they are and build up their sense of confidence in themselves. Discussing past doctor check-ups that went very well when they were younger is an example of giving them this sense of courage and strength. These are a few tips you can use as a parent to help with making your child feel as comfortable as possible with the situation. The most basic thing to remember is to just be there for them and create a strong bond of trust and friendship. Your child is already dealing with a traumatic and potentially life-changing situation, the most important thing they need is their family and a sense of trust with their loved ones.