Who's the sooky lala here?

We have been brought up with pretty good endurance and tolerance towards pain. Think of it. When BCG, a vaccination was given, in primary school, all the nurse did was burn that huge needle at the burner. Youch!

When Aidan was born, I brought him to every vaccination appointment, his father nowhere in site. He was there once, but walked away the moment it was our turn. So, what was it to Aidan? First, the selamba look. Then you can see it changed from that to squinty eyes, squishy face, red face, and a wide opened mouth, wailing his lungs out.

As he grew older, it was a more difficult task, as he knew that would hurt, and he tried to wriggle off it. That made it worse, as the nurse needed to adjust the needle, and it was as traumatizing for me as it was for him. Still, we went through it all.

Today's parents to infants and toddlers, thanks to the widespread advertisement of Emla patches, they think this product is god-sent. The patch is supposed to be applied 60 minutes before vaccination and it will numb the area, sparing the child from pain. I mean, seriously. Is that really necessary? Yes, we do want all the comforts we can give to our children, but......

Then there was this teenager who came in to the store the other night, asking for the patch. And I thought, you are a bloody grown up, I am sure you would have fallen down and hurt yourself many times in life, and you can't take in a needle?!

Get real!