How to Keep Medical Procedures From Traumatizing Your Child

Key points

Before discussing facts and information, first elicit and validate your child’s emotions.

Helping your child voice their feelings allows them to better observe and manage those feelings.

Kids need accurate but limited information about the procedure so as not to be overwhelmed.

Reviewing the procedure afterwards helps kids form accurate, healthy narratives about their body.

[This is Part 2 of the post, “ Any Medical Procedure Can Traumatize Your Child .”]

As covered in Part 1, any medical procedure runs the risk of becoming traumatic based on a child’s emotional experience and their limited understanding of the medical intervention. As a result, kids often create harmful and inaccurate narratives about themselves, their bodies, and others.

Here’s how par