See with the eyes of a child.
The child sees the world different!

In the last post, I suggested that we can use our experience as children to improve our interaction with our paediatric patients. Good experiences may work as role models, bad experiences can instruct us, what behaviour to avoid.

The shopping centre: See with the eyes of a child.

If you dare, just follow me on an imaginary tour through the shopping centre with the eyes of a two-year-old. Do you remember feeling your mother’s hand in yours?

See with the eyes of a child.
Everything is so big, high up there. Numerous legs and bottoms are surrounding you, and you are almost invisible. The most important part of the whole shopping experience is whether you get some sweets in the end. Sweets are simply the best thing in the world, and you don’t understand why you can’t have them all the time.

We can do the same trip down memory lane, remembering how the world appeared to us when we were 6, 12 or 16 years old. Immediately we see that these are three extremely diverse worlds.

So, what can we do with our experience?

Using experience

When I ask myself, “How can I connect to a two-year-old?” I might use my “inner two-year-old self” to connect to the two-year-old patient in front of me. In this case, I show the same gestures and the same simple language as any toddler would.

The same is true for any other age. In a sense, I become a peer to my patient in their age bracket.

Of course, my “two-year-old self” has the guidance of the adult “me”, and this is a good starting point.

In a nutshell:

Mental “time-travel” can help you to connect with the child.
One specific aspect of the child’s world view is related to authorities.

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