>It’s Just Sick.
>I really hate going to the pediatrician’s office.
The waiting room is stocked with a filthy plastic kitchen, a grungy plastic slide and a whole bunch of developmental thingamabobs that look like they haven’t seen so much as a Clorox wipe in years. Occasionally in the summertime when the office is practically empty, I’ll let Baby play with the “toys,” making sure afterward to liberally douse her with antibacterial gel. But when it gets cold outside?
Forget it.
“I want to play!” Baby will whine, staring wistfully from my lap at the other (green snot-nosed, phlegm-flinging) kids clamoring around the germ-laden playsets.
“No,” I say firmly, clutching her by the elbows and feeling like a jerk. After a few rounds of try-to-keep-the-baby-on-my-lap last year, I finally resorted to waiting to feed her until we got to the doctor’s office, then keeping her securely in my clutches by plying her with peanut butter sandwich halves and fruit snacks.
The thing is, I shouldn’t have to resort to such chicanery. There’s a walled-off section of the waiting room that’s just for sick patients. A walled-off section that’s always empty, except for the poor schmuck daddy who got roped into taking his three-year-old in for her ear infection, not realizing that it’s just not cool to take your kid to the sick side, even if she’s come down with the bubonic plague.
I glare at the moms casually flipping through Parent Magazine on the well side, the ones whose kids are running to them every 15 seconds demanding a tissue or a baby aspirin, the ones who really couldn’t care less if every other kid in the place comes down with their brat’s conjunctivitis or flu bug. I glared especially the other day at the super skinny mom who sauntered in and flung down her Louis Vuitton before carefully sitting down beside me on her Ralph Lauren-clad butt and stretching out her legs to expose a pricey pair of European-styled leather boots. Her two uniformed children stood solemnly before Baby and me. They wanted to know Baby’s name and age.
After I told them, the girl gave Baby a big hug, then pointed at her punky-looking little brother, who was absentmindedly fingering one of the waiting room toys. “This is Ethan. He’s five. We think he has a stomach virus.”
“Hmm,” I said. “We’ve got to go now.” I picked up Baby and moved her to the other side of the room, where I gave the kids’ mom a look that I hoped said, Eat rotovirus and die.
“Can you even believe it?!” I asked Hubs later. “There she sat, letting puke boy touch everything and everyone! I mean, she had a lot of nerve.”
“Did you say something to her?” Hubs asked incredulously. “Did you tell her to go sit on the sick side?”
“Well,” I hedged. “No.”
“Why not?”
I sighed. “Because Baby was there for a stomach virus, too.”
>Yuck! I’m happy to say that parents at our peds office are really good about going to the sick side with toddlers & older children. Our office also has a huge sick side, so we can all retreat to our own quarters. What I don’t get is that they offer toys on the sick, but not the well, side. Gross!Kate
>My pediatrician’s waiting room is somewhat sparse. They have a fish tank and a TV where they play kiddy videos. But it’s fine with me! For just the reason you explained here. No toys means fewer opportunities for my daughter to pick up whatever random bug was brought in by the other kids, especially when we’re just there for a well-baby visit. She’s healthy and I’d like to keep her that way. 🙂
>LMAO. At least you refrained from letting her goober all over the place.That was very thoughtful of you.LOL.
>Those toys in the ped’s lobby scare me.I turn into Monk…I can see the germs waving at me from the plastic handles.
>I know how you feel. We always make a big event of handwashing in the patient room while we’re waiting for the doctor. It’s quite fun actually. But then there are the books that they want to look at after they wash their hands…..
>It’s okay, I’m a hypocrite, too. The thing is that other kids’ sick is much worse than your kids’ sick no matter how sick either of them actually are. I hate when people come into work sick. They sit and complain about “Oh, I just feel terrible, I was up all night puking, but I can’t miss any more time if I want that vacation…oh, here’s your pen back.” Eww. Like, your trip to Alaska is SO much more important than these other 300 peoples’ health, so hack away on all those papers, buddy!
>We always go to the sick side when my daughter is sick. The fish tank can be seen on both sides of the office, so my daughter doesn’t care. But I’m with you — I won’t let my daughter play with anything, even on the well side. One time I gave in at the dentist’s office, because the toys looked so inviting, and blammo — she got sick within a few days. I even worry about playgrounds, and I always wipe her hands with a sanitizing wipe when we leave (for whatever good that does).
>I always make appointments when I know no one will be there.Then it’s my kids germs infecting the place… muahahha
>OMG! At little ones ped office there are NO toys or books, just a TV- there is a sign that states the reason- so germs wont be passed around- we bring our own books to read- or he can watch a movie on the tv, they are really good about constantly having a Disney movie running- also, we have NEVER waited over 10 minutes- maybe in the exam room, but not the waiting room! I think I will tell the Doc thanks next time we go in! Didn’t realize how good we had it!
>I try to justify sitting on the well side by the fact that she was almost over her illness, and that I kept her in my lap. Really, though, I have no business glaring at the other moms- and yet, I do it anyway!!
>The only thing worse than a pediatrician’s office is a church nursery.I don’t know why parents think their kids are protected by God from virii while in the nursery, but no one has any qualms about leaving their kid with a fever, runny nose or hacking cough.
>Oh Kat – there’s one place worse… the gym nursery. I quit the gym (actually 3 of them) because my kids always became sick within 24 hours of every freakin’ trip. They are much healthier now that I have a treadmill :)Kate
>I always tell my son, before we go in that he cannot play with any of the toys or children in the sick area, then I give him my ipod and let him watch some cartoons while sitting in my lap.When he was younger and before the days of video ipods, I would keep a stash of cool “new” toys to take with us. I do hate the parents who let the sick kids play in the well area, but have to admit if there has been a particularly sickly looking kid in the sick area (the ones dripping with snot or who still have their crusty pjs on), I too have sat on the edge of the well area.
>I entertained mine with my vidPod for the first time a couple days ago. Never thought what a lifesaver it would be to throw a kid show on there!I’m so glad I live in this era!
>There’s research out there that shows that kids NEED germs to build their immune systems. I draw the line at conjunctivitis because it’s so darn unnecessary and so contagious — but for the usual sneezes and sniffles, don’t sweat it. Let them have at it.When we had really sick kids, our pediatrician had a separate entrance. But the plague is so much more treatable these days.
>I’ve heard that “building up their immune systems” argument, too, but try cleaning up diarrhea at 3am 7 nights in a row and you will change your tune, believe me…
>Our pediatrition had a small offfice, so there were no sick and well sides. If your kid had chicken pox they had you got to the back door. Needless to say, I brought my own clorox wipes, kids toys, and handcuffs.
>My favorite pediatrician ever had two entirely separate waiting rooms for sick and well children. The doors were right next to each other and were very largely and clearly labeled “Sick Children” and “Well Children”. I never once saw anyone in the wrong room ever! I loved it! Now we’re back to the shared waiting room and I hate it!
>I remember wondering whether I’d bought too many pairs of pajamas this winter. . .and then my son caught the stomach flu. So glad for all those pajama sets.I read that the stomach flu is running rampant this year. Bleh!
>*LOL*I didn’t see THAT ending coming! :0Our peds office has two waiting rooms. One for sick, the other for well, and a nurse who directs everyone to the “right” side. Nobody can cheat!She has hawk eyes…
>I just make our appointment at a insane time early in the morning. I still do not let her play with the toys but you know we still come home and are sick again within a few days!oh well.
>The one time my daughter touched something, I GOT THE PINK EYE! We bring toys and books to entertain her.Our peds office does a good job getting people back quickly to rooms and has a sick room. We won’t touch a thing in the office.As a physician, I have no problem telling Typhoid Mary to back away from my kids.
>Oh…you’re funny. I was getting all mad for you and then I burst out laughing on that last line. I hate hate hate going to the doctor’s office for anything. I always feel so dirty and germy when I leave. If the kids aren’t sick when you take them in – they will be soon after!
>Fortunately, we don’t have too many problems with our pediatricians office – it’s sparse by way of toys and most folks pretty much keep to their side of the street… Fortunately for me, all the years of the 10 second rule and wandering around hotels have built up my kids immune systems so they don’t get sick too often….
>Too funny! There was a day (approx 3 years ago, give or take a week) when I would have looked at a mom like you and thought, “Puh-leeeeeze. Don’t be so anal. What are the odds of your kid catching the bug/virus? Get a life.”Now I have a kid. A kid who gets sick. A lot. I hear you. I hear you loud and clear!
>Honey, it ain’t just the rich folk! (All kinds of irony is intended in the preceeding sentance)I wrote this open letter to mothers in the health department who do the exact same thing. (Though they are gone now I got some really priceless comments calling me a “welfare c*nt” because I was at the health department in the first place)
>Our old peds office had separate waiting areas with two different doors…the doors weren’t even anywhere near each other. Loved it there.Our current peds office has separate sides but no one pays attention. But we’ve only ever been there for sick, so I’ve sat quietly on the sick side and DD is usually in my lap.
>You are a powerful woman,Lucinda.. three of my children to our mutual pediatrician’s office yesterday. Since only one was sick..I parked her on the sick”side” of the waiting room..not so much out of any moral obligation as out of fear of the normally demure Kim who ordered me there. I let my little guys play on the well “side”, until the same sweet receptionist who I have always loved came stomping out from BEHIND THE REGISTRATION DESK and told me that my baby had to move to the sick side because he had coughed. Either our pediatrician’s office is on abnormally high alert this year(though I’ve never had them be this vigilent in the 9 winters of going there)..or they have been reading suburban turmoil!!!
>I don’t know, sometimes I think letting kids play with the waiting room toys is the lesser of to evils. I’d rather see them occupied than screaming because they’re bored and not allowed to play with the cool toys.
>That’s precisely why you plan accordingly. Sometimes, I pack lunch for the waiting room, so that my daughter is preoccupied by eating. Other times, I bring along a tiny children’s DVD player she has, with Dora and Blues Clues episodes. That’s much cooler than the dirty plastic slide in the pediatrician’s office.