Going to hospital for an appointment, surgery or for a stay can be very daunting for a child. Hospitals can be a very scary, unfamiliar and a strange new world. Creating a Social Story together about the experience by allowing your child to know what to expect can sometimes put a child’s worries at ease. By using words, drawings, pictures or photos of themselves, other children or their favourite character you can explain what will happen, how they may feel and how we can deal with these emotions or problems together. This will hopefully help prepare them for their particular hospital experience.
There are also some really good picture books out there that children can relate to in order to help encourage them to ease their fears and feel better about spending time in a hospital setting.
‘Guess What? There’s a Hippopotamus on the Hospital Roof Eating Cake!’ By Hazel Edwards. This is a light and funny story about a hippopotamus that helps and reassures a little boy during his hospital visit explaining procedures and comforting him.
‘A First Look at Going to the Hospital; Do I Have to Go to Hospital’ by Pat Thomas. This book is more of an information story book that explores what it is like to go to hospital and how the child might feel about it. The illustrations are very descriptive providing further stimulus to chat about. It also contains discussion boxes and notes for parents.
There are plenty of good picture books about going to hospital and being sick containing children’s characters that may be more appealing to your child, such as ‘Franklin Goes to the Hospital’, ‘Clifford Visits the Hospital’, ‘A Visit to the Sesame Street Hospital’, ‘Curious George Goes to the Hospital’ and Caitlin’s favourite; ‘Peppa Goes to Hospital’.
A wonderful Bluey episode, ‘Bluey: Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound’ episode 31 season 1, contains a beautiful moral that everyone gets sick at one point or another. It is about Bingo who is sick in hospital. Bluey and her dad send her a homemade video with the help of their family and friends to try to cheer her up. It is about Bumpy who gets sick and the quest that her owner Barnicus goes on to try to heal him.
Picture books for siblings are also great in helping ease their fears and let them know its ok to feel scared, angry or upset about their brother or sister being in hospital.
‘Sometimes’ by Rebecca Elliott is a nice story about Toby and his big sister Clemmie who regularly needs to visit the hospital. It talks about them both being brave and supporting each other by finding ways to have fun while there.
‘When Molly was in the Hospital’ by Debbie Duncan explores the many emotions and reactions that Anna is feeling while her sister is hospitalised.
‘Noah’s Garden: When Someone You Love is in Hospital’ by Mo Johnson is about Noah who is living in a Children’s Hospital with his family because his new baby sister, Jessica is unwell. He occupies himself by creating an imaginary world there while wishing for the day his sister can join him.
I hope these book suggestions make your child’s and your hospital visit that little bit more comfortable.
