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Have you ever heard a parent say they hesitated to make an appointment for their child out of fear?
Its understandable that parents have questions and concerns. Fear, imagined or real, can cripple us. As a mother of four, I confess to adorning my children with arm floaties, life jackets, and rubber ducky tubes…simultaneously…while they float in the shallow end of our pool. Yes. Over the top.
We can all have unreasonable fears from things we are unsure of, but the facts about chiropractic care show it has an incredibly high satisfaction rate and safety rate among children and parents. When a parent voices that they wished they had called my office sooner but were nervous, I understand, and I never want that to stop another parent. That is why I believe it is so important for chiropractors to convey the value, safety and high satisfaction rates of chiropractic care to the public. With the help of Bennie the Backbone, I hope to get more of that message out there.
I promise not to inundate your inbox, but if I notice patterns of practice, important new information, or some helpful guidance to care for children, I promise to pass it along to you. I will also give you more ways to use your Bennie purchase to promote the value, safety, and satisfaction of chiropractic care in your community!
LEt’s Start Now!
if you enjoy caring for kids in your office, here are five ideas to consider:
Talk to the child at their level. I mean physically get down and speak to the child eye to eye. Talk to them about what your doing, what it should feel like, and how it helps. You don’t need to be highly technical with kids or adults. The more simple and straightforward you can be, the easier it is to understand. Here’s something interesting: because the adjustment is so gentle, a lot of parents will try to help calm their child by calling it a massage. Do you ever hear that? I always gently and factually make sure they understand the difference, “It may seem that way because an adjustment is so gentle, but it is very different…” and then I will explain.
For a tentative child, a sheet of small stickers works well. If the child won’t put anything in their mouth that doesn’t belong, a sheet of small stickers are great to occupy them. In my office kids love pulling them on and off the paper and putting them on their shirts, mom or dad’s face, my nose, the vinyl part of the table, you name it! You can get hundreds of sheets of these stickers and use anytime a child seems tentative or you need them to be still for a moment. I have had wiggly kids so enamored with sticker sheets that they stay still for their entire check up.
Be flexible. In the beginning, not all kids will be, and, sometimes even kids you have seen for years will have an off day. Be flexible where you go. As long as you can do your assessment and adjustment, you can care for kids in atypical spots in your office.
Open adjusting. If you have the space for open adjusting, it is an excellent way to help people appreciate how a child is adjusted. A grandmother might see a newborn being adjusted and then convey to her daughter how gentle it is and that it might help with her newborn’s torticollis. A nervous parent filling out new patient paperwork could have their mind put at ease after seeing siblings argue over who gets to go first for their adjustment. And, of course, it always help a child new to chiropractic care to see another child smiling while they have their spinal check up.
Create spaces for kids. A “quiet play” space, changing table, one available quiet room, and kid friendly activities are a few musts to create an environment that shows you are ready to care for kids. Its also important to have staff ready and willing to help if need be. It is common in our office to care for at least one parent of a child we already care for. To know their little one is looked after while they get adjusted is a huge help.