Kids Can - Introduction

It was a special day in the Jones' house. That's because today, five year old twins Jimmie and Sandy Jones were heading to the hospital, for a special visit before they went for real the next day. They were going in to have their tonsils removed.

The staff at the hospital arranged special visits for the children who were going to be coming in so they could see that a hospital wasn't as scary a place as they may think it is. Since they started doing this, the doctor's and nurses had found it helped the children feel not so scared and more comfortable during their stay. It was also fun for the staff as well because they could have fun with the kids instead of being seen as a "bad guy".

"Ok you two," Mama called from the stairs looking at her watch, "let's go."

"Coming mama." they called in unison as they made their way down the wooden staircase and out the front door. Once outside, the children raced to the car to see who could get there first.

Keeping an eye on them mama grabbed her purse and keys and locked the door behind her. Walking up to the car she put a hand on each child's head and rubbed their hair. "Ok guys before we get in and go, we need to talk," she
said, in her most serious face.

She hated to ask but she had to make sure they knew when they got to the hospital they had to use their quietest voices.

"What about, mama?" Jimmie asked, seeing her serious face.

"Do you remember where we are going today?" she asked, crossing her arms and looking at both of them.

"The hopsital," five year old, Sandy said.

"The hospital," their mama corrected. "That's right, we are going to the hospital."

"But why today? Do they want us early?" Jimmie asked, reaching out and placing his hand on his mommy's arm.

Mama tried not to laugh as she looked down at their sweet faces. "No, we are going today, so you guys can meet some of the Doctors and Nurses, and talk to them. So you can see that being in the hospital isn't as scary as you might think. You may even be able to talk to some of the kids who are already there, if they can talk or want to talk. But remember you can not run or be loud once we go into the hospital because there are people there resting so they can get better and go home, alright?

"Yes, Mom!!!!" they both said, watching her take the car keys out of her bag.

"I hoped you would," she said, with a smile. Reaching over she opened the back door of the car and helped them both in.

Happy they were buckled in safely, mom closed their door and went to open her door and got in. She sat in the driver's seat, buckled herself in and started the car. "Ok, who is going first in our game of Eye Spy with my Little Eye," she asked, carefully backing the car out of their drive onto the road.

"Jimmie can, Mom, I don't like to be first in that game." Sandy lifted her doll off the seat, cuddled it, and waited for Jimmie to start.

Before long the game had started and they were on the road heading to the hospital for their special visit. But as they would soon find out, this visit was nothing compared to what it would be like when they arrived the next day.