{"id":4639,"date":"2025-01-03T15:47:39","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T23:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/?p=4639"},"modified":"2025-01-15T09:30:39","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T17:30:39","slug":"funny-things-kids-do-at-the-pediatricians-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/funny-things-kids-do-at-the-pediatricians-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Funny Things Kids Do at The Pediatrician\u2019s Office"},"content":{"rendered":"

The holiday hustle and bustle is over, the kids are back in school, and you are back to your normal routine. That can feel like a bit of a letdown Maybe a few giggles will help!<\/p>\n

My job as a pediatrician provides me with a constant stream of smiles, because kids are just so funny!<\/p>\n

Here are a few fun stories my colleagues and I would like to share:<\/h3>\n

While his dad and I talked, one boy climbed up on my exam room table and plastered his ear against the wall. He sat that way for quite a long time. When I asked what he was doing, he said, \u201cI\u2019m listening to the people next door!\u201d<\/p>\n

A 6-year-old boy asked me, \u201cHave I met you?\u201d I said, \u201cYes, but it\u2019s been a long time – maybe you don\u2019t remember me. I\u2019m Dr. Land.\u201d He jumped up, gave me a big hug and said, \u201cI missed you so much!\u201d<\/p>\n

My medical assistant took a 3-year-old boy to the exam room the other day and I could hear them talking. He asked her: \u201cAre you a mom?\u201d She said, \u201cYes I am, but I have girls.\u201d He responded, \u201cI like girls!!\u201d<\/p>\n

My colleague Dr. Conalu Bernardino<\/a> shared about an 8-year-old she saw in December who needed medicine for an ear infection. His mom asked her to prescribe tablets because he doesn\u2019t like liquid medicine. It\u2019s pretty unusual for a child that age to be able to swallow pills, so Dr. Bernardino asked the boy if he was okay with a tablet. He smiled and said, \u201cYes! I really want a tablet for Christmas!\u201d<\/p>\n

I walked into one exam room and the child waiting there took one look at me and said to their mom: \u201cI\u2019m all better – let\u2019s go home, Mom!\u201d<\/p>\n

I often get to see how smart kids are:<\/h3>\n

A 3-year-old boy was really close when he told me, \u201cYou\u2019re using your telescope to listen to me!\u201d<\/p>\n

I started to look in a 5-year-old girl\u2019s ears. I tried to offer reassurance by saying, \u201cThis isn\u2019t hot – it\u2019s just a flashlight.\u201d She said, \u201cNo, that\u2019s an otoscope.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was trying to make friends with a new patient, and said, \u201cEw! Scary dinosaur on your t-shirt\u201d The 3-year-old threw back, \u201cIt\u2019s just a fossil. It\u2019s not scary. Bones aren\u2019t scary.\u201d I think I even saw an eye roll.<\/p>\n

A dad and his 8-year-old daughter came in for her well-check. He was worried about her iPad time. I asked her, \u201cWhat are you missing out on when you\u2019re on your iPad too much?\u201d \u201cNature!\u201d \u201cWhat else?\u201d \u201cMy family!\u201d Wow, kid, you\u2019re hired!<\/p>\n

And sometimes the kids laugh more at me that I do at them:<\/h3>\n

I saw a 10-year-old boy with a hurt shoulder who wasn\u2019t at all happy to be in my office. I said he\u2019d feel better soon and advised him to rest his arm, use some ice, and ibuprofen. He just looked at me with a glare and said, \u201cMaybe, maybe not.\u201d<\/p>\n

One child had COVID but apparently felt pretty well. The N-95 masks we had at that time stuck out from the face like a duck bill \u2014 they looked pretty silly. When I walked in the room wearing one they started cracking up and quacking at me!<\/p>\n

To top off this list, my colleague Dr. Keedra McNeill<\/a> had a hilarious interaction with one 5-year-old. She told me this story:<\/p>\n

I had a phone visit scheduled for a young patient that I had not met before. The notes said the child might have pinkeye. I called and asked for the mother of \u201cMaya\u201d. The person answering told me \u201cThis is her.\u201d The voice sounded slightly childish but I\u2019d never met the family, so I assumed this is how the mom sounds, or perhaps she was a younger mother. I introduced myself and told her I was calling for our phone appointment. She responded \u201cHer all better now. She not sick.\u201d My antennae went up that something may be amiss, so I repeated \u201cIs this the mother of \u2018Maya\u2019?\u201d To which she responded adamantly, \u201cYes, this her. This Maya mother. Her all better now.\u201d Since I didn\u2019t know the mother, I gave her the benefit of the doubt.<\/p>\n

Just to be sure, I continued with the visit and asked all the typical questions about fever, cough, runny nose, etc. She responded appropriately to all the questions and just as I was preparing to end this somewhat unusual phone call, I heard a woman\u2019s voice in the background asking, \u201cWhat are you doing? Who are you talking to?\u201d The woman suddenly came on the line and identified herself as \u201cMaya\u2019s\u201d mother!<\/p>\n

We both had a good laugh as I explained that \u201cMaya\u201d had successfully impersonated her and pretty much completed a full telephone visit independently. The mom explained that \u201cMaya\u201d was scared she would have to go to the doctor and get a shot, so she intercepted the phone call and declared that she was all better. In the words of the head burglar Harry from the classic movie Home Alone<\/em>, I\u2019d been scammed by a kindergartner!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My job as a pediatrician provides me with a constant stream of smiles, because kids are just so funny! Here are a few fun stories my colleagues and I would like to share<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":4640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[519,169,345,702],"class_list":["post-4639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-funny-patients","tag-funny-things-kids-say","tag-parenting-with-positivity","tag-questions-kids-ask","ages-all-ages"],"metadata":{"_edit_lock":["1736962244:6"],"_edit_last":["6"],"_thumbnail_id":["4640"],"qode_animate-page-title":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-text":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-image":["no"],"qode_show-sidebar":["default"],"qode_hide-featured-image":["no"],"slide_template":[""],"ase_chapter_enable_timeline":["off"],"video_format_choose":["youtube"],"_wpb_vc_js_status":["false"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["1"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_ages":["294"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":["Kids say funny things in the doctor's office!"],"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":["My job as a pediatrician provides me with a constant stream of smiles, because kids are just so funny! Here are some stories to make you smile"],"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":["61"],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["90"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":["[]"],"_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":["[\"\"]"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["3"],"_yoast_wpseo_wordproof_timestamp":[""],"_yoast_indexnow_last_ping":["1736962239"],"_wp_old_date":["2025-01-08"],"wpfp_favorites":["274"],"ase_map_component_start_point":["a:2:{s:3:\"lat\";d:29.76;s:3:\"lng\";d:-95.38;}"],"ase_mapbox_style":["openstreet"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4639"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4843,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4639\/revisions\/4843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}