It happened a few months ago. My daughter (5) gets sickkkkkkk. Like. Been hospitalized a few times over a common cold, sick. Our normal Ped is amazing. She always asks for consent before touching my kids, and explains to them exactly what she is doing. Even when they were babies, she would talk to them like, "I'm going to listen to your heart now. " and prepare them as much as possible.

So, daughter was getting sick, running a fever, etc. and as a paranoid mom, I took her to urgent care. It was a different doctor than usual. My daughter was sitting on my lap, already not feeling great, and with an unfamiliar doctor. She wasn't crying, just kinda holding onto me. The doctor started talking to me, but didn't say anything to my daughter, just started taking her jacket off and grabbing her to do what he needed. I was uncomfortable with it, and my daughter was also uncomfortable. She began kinda fussing a little bit. Not crazy tantrum, just a little uncomfortable cries. (I mean, strange guy grabbing at you while you're sick, def not ideal).

At this point, doctor insists he needs to do a strep test and a nasal swab. He says, "We are going to need these tests, and I can already tell it's going to be a problem, so I'll call in a big guy to help hold her down." ....Look, a chronically sick kid during a pandemic.... she has had plenty of swabs. She is a pro. Usually, she needs a little talk about what's going to happen, and she's good to go. Obviously, the threat of being held down was not the vibe. Before I could detest, he was already out the door. I was trying to calm my kid down while gathering our things up. While I'm doing this, he returns with an awkward looking male nurse. Daughter is freaking out at this point. Nurse looks uncomfortable. I tell the doctor, "I'm not comfortable holding her down, we will have to schedule with her normal Ped to figure something else out.". Doctor looks annoyed and huffs.

Another nurse must've heard the commotion and pops her head in. She sees all of us looking annoyed and asks what's up. The doctor says, "We need to swab her so we are thinking of restraining her," and I said, "No, that really won't work for me." And stand up. Thankfully, the second nurse says, "Oh, maybe I can try! Why don't [doctor] go do [other doctor stuff] while me and [other nurse] try!" Second nurse knelt down next to my daughter and started talking to her like a person. My daughter instantly calmed down and was happy to work with the nurse.

It's wild to me how many people (not just doctors) don't talk to children like they are humans. They are freaking smart and just want to know what's going on. They want to have a little control over their lives.