For the adolescent patient to relate to the doctor, the old relationship has to change. The pediatrician and patient should talk around age 12, Dr. Gomez says. It s a good opportunity for the doctor to tell the pre- teenager that he or she can talk to the doctor confidentially. This also means that he or she will assume more responsibility for communicating with the doctor. From here on, the doctor will spend more time talking to the patient and less to the parent.
Most pediatricians try to encourage adolescents to maintain good communication with parents.
There s no substitute for that. When it comes to something that endangers the child or another person, that can t be kept confidential. I insist that the child tell a parent. We don t want to make going to the doctor a traumatic experience. What we want to do is to get teens used to talking with the doctor and feeling comfortable about asking questions.