How To Deal With A Child’s Fear Of Vaccinations
One of the most difficult things we face as parents is bring our child to be vaccinated, simply because we know that needles can hurt and the experience may be frightening. Immunization is important if we want our children protected against devastating or deadly diseases, and we shouldn’t avoid having our children receive their vaccinations, but the last thing we want for our children is to purposely make them cry. Some parents may wonder if they can help to make a trip to the doctor’s for vaccinations easier on their children and ensure they don’t develop a lasting fear of needles.
There are many reasons why children develop fears in the first place. Perhaps they’ve lived through a traumatizing event and remain marked by the upset, or they may have witnessed someone else going through a traumatizing experience. Even television can end up providing children with their fears, by the child having glimpsed a show where a traumatizing event was going on. Whatever the reason your child, understand and recognized that the feelings of anxiety and paranoia attached to fears are very real and should not be dismissed.
Many parents use a ’speak no evil’ method when they need to have their children go through an event that is less than pleasant or that they know will bring about anxiety. Not speaking of the reason for the doctor’s appointment will help ensure that children don’t worry or stress over the situation before even arriving there. The trick is to alleviate anxiety, not create it. Telling a child ahead of time that they’re going to receive a vaccination will only allow the child to think up all sorts of horrible scenarios. By the time you arrive at the doctor’s office, your child will already be terrified and upset, having predicted every second of the ‘traumatic’ event.
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