child handling for the childless nurse
My current job has me working with children, which is kind of a weird shock after years in environments where a âyoungâ patient is 40 years old.  Hereâs my impressions so far:
Birth - 1 year: Essentially a small cute animal. Â Handle accordingly; gently and affectionately, but relying heavily on the caregivers and with no real expectation of cooperation.
Age 1 - 2: Hates you. Â Hates you so much. Â You can smile, you can coo, you can attempt to soothe; they hate you anyway, because youâre a stranger and youâre scary and youâre touching them. Â Thereâs no winning this so just get it over with as quickly and non-traumatically as possible.
Age 3 - 5: Nervous around medical things, but possible to soothe.  Easily upset, but also easily distracted from the thing that upset them.  Smartphone cartoons and âwho wants a sticker?!!?!?â are key management techniques.
Age 6 - 10: Really cool, actually.  I did not realize kids were this cool.  Around this age they tend to be fairly outgoing, and super curious and eager to learn.  Absolutely do not babytalk; instead, flatter them with how grown-up they are, teach them some Fun Gross Medical Facts, and introduce potentially frightening experiences with âhey, you want to see something really cool?â
Age 11 - 14: Extremely variable.  Can be very childish or very mature, or rapidly switch from one mode to the other.  At this point you can almost treat them as an adult, just⊠a really sensitive and unpredictable adult.  Do not, under any circumstances, offer stickers.  (But they might grab one out of the bin anyway.)
Age 15 - 18: Basically an adult with severely limited life experience. Â Treat as an adult who needs a little extra education with their care. Â Keep parents out of the room as much as possible, unless the kid wants them there. Â At this point you can go ahead and offer stickers again, because theyâll probably think itâs funny. Â And theyâll want one. Â Deep down, everyone wants a sticker.
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