[Rathji]

When we did booster shots for my daughter last year, so she would have been 3 or 4, and there was 3 of them. The first 2 were fine, but by the time the 3rd one happened she was freaking. I think it was because she didn't remember the last time she had them, so she wasn't scared. Now, every time we even pull into the parking lot of the South Calgary Health Center she starts freaking out.

Bottom line, you can't really stop them from being scared until they are old enough to fully use reason in these situations, which is a lot older than 6.

As for bribing a kid, it obviously sets a bad precedent, but the reality is, unless you are getting needles every week or even month, I doubt it will have a bad outcome, especially if you try and avoid them on a daily basis.

For us, we try to use a lot of things to generate positive 'self talk'. Needles from the doctor are healthy, we want to be healthy so we can go to school (or whatever activity she enjoys), etc. This gets us in the door and sitting on the chair.

Afterwards, they get Starbucks.

At the very least, it gives us a chance to calm them down and realize that it doesn't really hurt that bad anymore, which I hope will help the self talk next time.