Teachers need to be told that it is not contagious and cannot affect other children, if only to reassure their parents. A very important part of the letter is to explain who to contact should any problems arise, and how to do this. I append a card with the names of staff and telephone numbers to the introductory letter. In this way contact can be made directly with the centre if a parent is not available either at home or on a telephone pager. The next section of the letter deals with activities and sports and again stresses normality.
Normal development depends on continuing exploration of the world.
Only the individual can eventually decide what is right for him in terms of work and leisure. Unnecessary restrictions hinder this progress. Children wanting to do the same things as their friends will eventually either reject restrictions directly, or hide the fact they are disobeying their parents in order to avoid retribution. Far better to let them learn within sensible limits what is right for them and for their haemophilia. The only restrictions recommend are that boys should not box or play rugby football, and the letter explains why.