A couple of days ago I was listening to a mother on leaving school to comment that she would take her son to the pediatrician to see two bites he had on his arm. But are they infected or have something?, another mother asked. No, but just in case, they sting a lot, answered the first.
I, who took my daughters to the controls and little else, thought to myself about the enormous difference in criteria that parents have about when children should be taken to the doctor and when not. There are parents who take their children for everything to the doctor and parents who do not take them for anything.
Of course, when to take the child to the pediatrician can be a very subjective consideration. If you think that your child can be infected with a sting that itches a lot and taking him to the doctor (if there are five minutes in total) you are avoiding a greater consequence, well done.
But on the other hand, you can not take him to be seen two bites just in case. Let's say you take it if you see that they have bulged, are red or when they touch you they hurt. Matter of common sense.
I would add to having previously discarded some disinfectant at home without result, but do not pay attention to me that I am very anti-medical. Everything is solved with pampering and my two or three "bedside" medications, but that's not good either. Sometimes I regret not going to the doctor since day one and that's it.
Still, I am still amazed at the nonsense by which parents take their children to the pediatrician collapsing the waiting rooms. Even sometimes they go as an emergency, when it really is not, without respecting at all those who have made an appointment and we have been waiting for more than an hour to attend to our son.
But the misuse of the health system is not really what I am talking about, but of the lack of judgment of some parents, both to go to the doctor for everything and nothing, which is also a misuse.
Neither so much nor so little
You definitely can't go to the pediatrician for two bites. I may be told by my experience as a mother of three, but I believe that in the end it is common sense, have the children you have.
But beware, you also have to recognize when children need to be checked by a professional without believing us omnipotent playing doctors when we can make mistakes and put them at risk.
Another example: a common cold is not necessarily a matter of consultation, it is a picture that we can treat at home in a simple way, since they are not cured with medicines. Unless the child exhibits alarm symptoms that indicate that it is time to take the child with a cold, such as respiratory distress, fever more than three days or earache. Again, common sense.
Like everything, I think in the balance is the answer. Neither one nor the other. Neither always in the doctor nor do not take them or medicate them without knowing, because in the long run it could be worse.
Know how to identify when to take the child to the doctor and when it is not an art that all parents should try to cultivate, for the benefit of all.
You, on which side do you stand? Are you from parents who take their children for everything to the doctor or of parents who don't take them for nothing?
