Seeing your children in pain is a harrowing experience, even if it’s just due to a chipped tooth. Say, you’re on your way to an emergency dentist in Townsville, a screaming kid in your back seat is enough to make you think about breaking the speed limit. To make things easier for you, help your kids manage their pain.
Teach them breathing exercises
Teach your children to breathe deeply whenever they feel pain. Deep breathing not only slows down the heart rate but also triggers the brain to release more endorphins, which are the hormones responsible for making you feel happy. More endorphins in the body will help minimise the pain sensation.
Distract them
Another way to ease the pain in children’s body is to distract them. Pain sensations tend to increase when you focus too much on the injury.
This doesn’t mean you should shock your son to forget the pain in his tooth. But, it can be helpful to distract him with something else that might be enjoyable for him. If he likes playing videogames, for instance, you can hand him his handheld gaming console while you’re driving to the dental clinic. You can also let him watch a film on your tablet.
If your daughter likes reading comic books or playing with her dolls, meanwhile, bring those along and give them to her. Let her listen to some music, too, if it can help soothe her pain away.
Hug them
Another way to manage your kids’ pain, at least temporarily, is to simply give them a hug. When children are in pain, you can help them ease the sensation by caressing them and making them feel as comfortable as possible. Nothing is more comfortable for kids than a parent’s hug. By embracing them, they will feel more at ease and protected, which can also help minimise the pain.
On top of that, when children are in pain, they tend to feel it all over his body. They find it difficult to localise their pain because they’re not used to managing this feeling on their own yet. So, when your kids are feeling pain in their teeth, they might feel that their arm or leg is in pain, as well.
If you embrace them it’s as if you’re caressing other parts of their bodies, too. When this happens, your children won’t feel any discomfort in other areas of their bodies except for where the pain really is. In a way, you’re helping them become more comfortable.
One more way to help your kids manage their pain is to teach them how to stimulate their imagination. A lot of people use this technique to counter their feelings of pain and so, it’s quite effective.
What you can do is ask them to visualise their favourite place. Then, ask them to imagine that they are there playing and having the best time. By using this technique, their minds will be preoccupied with imagining that they are in their favourite place that their brains will forget for a while that they are in pain.
