When Your Child Gets a Shot: Ways to Make it a More Positive Experience

Getting a shot at the doctor's office can be an especially upsetting experience for your child, either because they don't know what will happen and fear the unknown or because they've already had a bad experience.

Just so your child won't continue to have a bad attitude when it comes to going to the doctor, you can learn ways to make getting a shot a more positive experience.

Provide Medical Details

Probably one of the reasons why your child feels apprehensive about getting a shot is because of a lack of information. They see an intimidating doctor coming at them with a needle and they don't even know what it's for.

Providing medical details is a good way, then, to make getting a shot a more positive experience. The fact that you have this knowledge shows that you are taking an interest in the situation. If your child has some idea about why the shot is important, they are more likely to feel part of the procedure instead of being alienated from it.

Provide Diversions

Whether it's joking with the doctor over how big your child is getting or some other pleasant topic, it only makes sense to provide some diversion when your child is getting a shot.

But these diversions which make getting a shot a more positive experience should begin well in advance of the actual doctor visit. This is because it's shown that children who are in a good mood before they have to face something less than pleasant are more alert and responsive to the diversions you are providing with jokes, for example.

Your list of activities for the day with your child could go--eat breakfast at a restaurant, go to the park, go to the doctor's office, and so forth.

The point here is that by starting the day in a positive way with your child, you are making the shot experience a more positive one. Getting a shot is simply incorporated into the ongoing good mood of the child.

Diversions make getting a shot a more positive experience because the positive thinking of the day gathers momentum and extends into the few minutes it takes to get a shot.

In sum, getting a shot can be an upsetting experience for your child. But you can make getting a shot a more positive experience by keeping your child informed about the reason for the shot and by providing ways for the child to remain in a good mood throughout the day.