Scott had his 4 month old check up this week (yes, it was the DAY before his 5 month birthday!) He is growing rapidly. The doctor very seriously charted his height and weight and then proclaim, still in a very serious voice, “He is officially growing like a weed.” That cracked me up.
But before that moment, we had spent nearly and hour and a half at the office waiting, er patiently, for our turn. I brought a snack and some books for the girls. They did great in the “healthy kid” waiting room with the toys there. But by the time we got to our exam room, they were getting antsy.
That’s when Sammi and I discovered a chart on the wall (conveniently placed above some chairs) that helps kids and adults identify their level of pain. I remember reading this chart a thousand times a day when I was in the hospital after Scott was born. I definitely used its definitions and lingo to communicate my pain after the C-section up till I was discharged. But the best part of the chart is the faces that help kids identify their pain.
- Image from Wikidoc.org (Not the exact one I stared at, but the same idea)
We first went through all the faces and how much pain they indicated. Then the girls took turns being the doctor or the patient. The doctor asked how the patient felt and the patient pointed at the face that matched their pretend pain. This is where the chairs were helpful so they could reach the poster.
After several minutes of that fun we switched to making the faces of the chart. Trying to match our face to each level of pain. One we had a pretty good handle on that, we turned it into a guessing game. One person would make a face and the other two of us would guess which one it was. It was great because all three of us girls (Scott was napping at this point) were really engaged in this activity.
The pain scale chart gave us about twenty minutes of entertainment. And we learned a ton from it. We practiced role playing, imitating facial expressions, turn taking, understanding our bodies, and communicating with a doctor.
You didn’t tell me this fun story. I loved it.
Oh, I thought I had. Sorry 🙂