Author’s practical guidance
The shot, and whether to tell them it will hurt
Source named in the book: AAP guidance on medical visits
The temptation is to say it will not hurt, because the ten minutes before are unbearable to watch.
Say this now
“It's a quick sharp one. I'll hold you and it's over fast.”
True, short, and it names what you will be doing.
“You can squeeze my hand as hard as you want.”
Gives the body a job. Worth more than reassurance.
Do this
- Tell them in the room, a minute or two before, not at breakfast.
- Hold them front-to-front on your lap if the nurse allows it. Face against you beats lying flat.
- Keep your own voice flat. They are reading you, not the needle.
- Have the next thing ready — a snack, the park, the sticker — named before it starts.
- Say it was hard afterwards, not that it was nothing.
Avoid this
- "It won't hurt at all." One of the few sentences that damages a future appointment.
- Telling them three days early. Dread does more harm here than the needle.
- "Big kids don't cry." Adds shame to something that already hurts.
If it repeats
Ask about numbing cream at booking; most clinics have it and it needs half an hour. If your child dreads it for days, say nothing until you are in the building. Withholding is not lying.
Why the book suggests this
The temptation is to say it will not hurt, because the ten minutes before are unbearable to watch. It buys those ten minutes and spends every future one: a child who was told wrong once arrives at the next appointment already braced and no longer listening to you.
The guidance is consistent and slightly uncomfortable — tell the truth, small and late. A brief honest warning close to the moment does better than either a lie or a long advance notice, which just gives fear somewhere to grow.
From this collection
Same Words: Their Own Body
45 prepared situations in this family area.