Mar 12 2008
Use your Words
Here’s a quick quiz to get the ol’ grey matter exercised.
Your Vocabulary Score: A |
 Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person. |
Thanks to FeeFiFoto.
***************
Can you Define “Obnoxious”? (that’s a rhetorical question)
I took my daughter back to the orthopaedic surgeon today (see a broken ankle). My daughter and I walked into his office and he asked “So how’s she been?” (obviously directing the question to me). I didn’t reply but looked at my daughter – she said “oh, good thanks”, not sure if she should answer.
He repeated the question “So, how’s she going?”
Hellooo. How bloody ignorant can you get? How patronising and demeaning for a 15 year old to be totally ignored.
So I replied “She’s right there – why don’t you ask her?”
If she was 6, I’d kind of understand. But I’m trying to bring my children up to be communicative individuals. In fact, when I do take my 6 year old to the doctor, and he or she asks what the problem is, I let my daughter explain her symptoms and answer the questions. I wait until she’s finished and fill in any missing information.
And this doctor has a teenage daughter, so you think he’d know better. I don’t imagine he would go home and ask his wife how his daughter’s day was if she was sitting in the room.
Kids have a voice, an opinion and are certainly best qualified where their own bodies are concerned. Isn’t it up to us to encourage kids to express themselves, so they mature into people capable of giving more than monosyllabic responses?
I used to hate being ignored as a kid, and I’ll be damned if I let someone do it to mine. </ rant>
Anyway, my daughter can now start taking off her air walker boot at home and put a bit of weight on her foot. Physiotherapy to start next week.
And for what it’s worth, I think the doctor is an excellent one, just his (little) people skills suck.
13 Responses to “Use your Words”
I only got a B+ *sob*
yeah that is annoying with the doc.
I’m trying to teach my 11 year old to talk for herself at the doctors doing the same as you said you do – letting them describe what’s going on then filling in any gaps when they are finished.
Glad your girl is making some progress.
Bettina’s last blog post..Pressies for Kelley
Hehe – try it again with a dictionary open in the next tab 😮 – works a charm 😉
Thanks for your thoughts.
Surgeons, specialists and ‘consultants’ don’t tend to have people skills. OMG have I gone through a lot in my time. The one that sticks out the most was the one that greeted me with ‘Hello, you have a big head.’ Noice. Apparently he was doing a study on head circumference in mothers of children with Autism…
Good on you for standing up for her. Poor bugger, that would have been embarrassing for her.
Was thinking of you yesterday, even during my celebrating :), so glad that she can take that smelly boot off!
Kelley’s last blog post..Par-tay!
Sometimes people don’t really mean what they say, perhaps.
In Australia, if you meet someone, you’ll say “Hey how are you” and you’ll always expec t a “Good” answer.
It’s like a tradition, and the words “How are you” are said too often just like that, without any real meaning to it
Michael Aulia’s last blog post..Why caching is important for your blog
I had the opposite problem last week. I took my 11 yr old son to the Dr, she asked him the questions and he clammed up. I told him he had to answer as its his body and his ultimate responsibility he needs to learn to answer the questions.
I am more than happy to fill in the blanks but the kids need to learn how to describe things so that they can get the help that they need.
Glad to hear that your daughter is getting better and good luck with the physio for her
Gemisht’s last blog post..Waiting for Pandora
I found our GP the oppposite – he’d talk directly to our kids from quite young and I couldn’t always get in what I wanted to say.
Lightening’s last blog post..Commenting on Blogs
Okay, so I just did the vocab thing and got an A-. BUT, it didn’t tell me which answers I got correct and incorrect????
I also think they could use a little more vocabulary with their descriptions as mine said:
Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary!
You must be quite an erudite person.
Which is the same comment as for an A. If they’re going to differentiate then I think they should at LEAST come up with a different congratulations message! 😀
Lightening’s last blog post..Commenting on Blogs
I got an A. Yippee!
Nicole Price’s last blog post..Alternatives To Traditional Gas Guzzlers
I am also keen for my kids to talk directly to whoever is helping them. I have had good experience with providers and they respond well to that.
Colin Campbell’s last blog post..Slothfulfillment
Hooray for A’s… Mrs Chamberlain would be so proud! 😛
Burgo’s last blog post..Tuesday Trio – BARR, The Broderick & The Low Life
Personally, doctors can be excellent in their skills but if their bedside manner sucks then they are just not worth it.
I agree. I answer for my kids up to a point. I’m still answering for I& N obviously but for the bigger kids, I let them speak for themselves. They do get shy about it and sometimes I need to prompt but they need to speak up, they need that skill lest we go back to our parent’s generation mind sets. That would be bad. There are still way too many doctors on this earth with God complex syndrome.
tiff’s last blog post..Ectodermal Dysplasia with immune deficiency means squat.
Lots of good doctors have terrible bedside manner. I’m not sure what it is – maybe Dr. House is right, and the best doctors focus on diseases instead of patients.
I, too, remember feeling ignored and unimportant as a kid. It’s a horrible feeling, one people seem to forget about once they’re old enough to command attention. I don’t understand when people can’t validate a kid’s opinion – it’s not like they can’t think for themselves. Like you said, even if she WAS six, he should still be addressing her. The fact that she’s much closer to adulthood makes it even less appropriate to ignore her.
Liz’s last blog post..Uncharted: More Fun Than Original
I think the worst specialist I had was an ENT who expressed surprise that jasmine gives anyone headaches! I didn’t go back after that.
Bettina’s last blog post..TJ’s Excursion