As a parent, you can play an important role in preparing your child to stay in the hospital for an operation because you know your child better than anyone in the hospital. Many parents are unsure of how they can best help their children. This booklet contains some suggestions that you can use to help ease your child's worries both before and after the operation. This booklet will not prepare you for everything that will happen when your child is at the hospital for an operation. However, it will cover things that happen to most children and parents when they come to the hospital and their common reactions to them.
Parents often have many feelings when they learn that their child needs an operation.
Fear, worry, helplessness, even anger, are common. Your feelings about your child's operation and your understanding of what is going to happen to your child can affect how your child copes with his or her visit to the hospital. Children are very good at picking up on their parents' feelings, even when they try to hide them. The Hospital for Sick Children. All rights reserved.