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How kids get what they want
Kids know how to work the system! In hospitals, one nurse
keeps track of a patient's medications. That nurse writes
down in the patient's chart when doses were given so that
the next nurse will know that the patient got his medications.
However, in homes, it's rare to find any kind of record that
medications were given, which can be a problem. For example,
a six-year-old boy accidentally got two doses of his cold
medicine. How did this happen? His mother gave him his dose,
and since it tasted so good, a half hour later, the little
boy asked his uncle for his medicine. His unsuspecting uncle
gave it to him. Fortunately, even though it was a double dose,
it was not a problem, but with some medicines, it could be.
The message here is that kids will work the system to get
what they want, including medicines that taste good. Pick
one person in the house to be the "nurse" each day--you can
even create a chart and check off when doses are given. And
don't trust your kids when you ask them if they have taken
their medicine!
Institute for Safe Medication Practices
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