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Pediatricians Sound Off
What Doctors Wish Parents of Small Children Would Worry About
By Katherine Bontrager
More than once as I've left the pediatrician's office, having dragged my daughter in over some trifle, I've wondered what the doctor has said to her nurse. Does she acknowledge me as the overly cautious new mom? What over-hyped concerns does she tire of hearing? What does she think parents are missing the boat on? If your pediatrician had free reign to tell you what was really on his or her mind, what would be said?
"I wish parents would sweat the big stuff instead of the small," says Dr. Jennifer Shu, a pediatrician, mother and author American Academy of Pediatrics Baby and Child Health (DK Adult, 2006). "Many parents spend time worrying about everyday germs or decorating their baby's nursery when their focus is probably better spent on bigger-picture health and safety issues that have a much larger potential impact."
Dr. Vivian Lennon agrees. "Parents need to take a deep breath, sit back and relax!" says the practicing pediatrician and medical director of primary care centers at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. "We don't need to spend so much time worrying."
It's a sentiment shared by Dr. Ruben Rucoba, a pediatrician with Wheaton Pediatrics in Wheaton, Ill., instructor in pediatrics at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and experienced father of four. "As a pediatrician, I wish parents would worry less," he says. "Parents often can't see the forest for the trees. This is a common parenting mistake, one that I make all the time. We get so caught up in the day-to-day events that we forget to take a step back, think about the current 'crisis,' and realize that the strep throat or the fight with the best friend will all be long forgotten on the day the child graduates from college or gets married or becomes a parent himself."