How to Administer Eye-drops to a Preschooler in 18 Easy Steps
The other day my 3-year old woke up with her eyes crusted shut with goop. ‘Mommy, I am blind!’ Well, not exactly.. but I was hoping against hope that it was just a fluke and not what I feared. Well, of course she had pink eye. I am not surprised since she is still learning the importance of hand washing after she goes potty. However, after a quick confirmation from the pediatrician, we returned home with a vial of eye-drops and instructions to apply them twice a day for a week. Yeah right. After a few days of this newest ‘adventure in parenting,’ I think we have it figured out though. Check out this hack.. you will want to tape it to the frig!
How to Administer Eye-drops to a Preschooler in 18 Easy Steps
- Show your kid the eye-drops and calmly talk about the process.
- Chase kid around the house for 10 minutes.
- Corner kid in bedroom, any bedroom.
- Reason with them about why it will be quick and relatively painless.
- Promise them a popsicle if they just put their head on the pillow.
- Give them a lecture on why it is important to be brave.
- Threaten to put their favorite toy in a timeout.
- Promise a special viewing of Frozen in exchange for 10 seconds of their cooperation.
- Attempt #1: after 10 minutes of screaming and flailing, call in Dad for reinforcements.
- Promise your kid a special toy… any special toy.
- Attempt #2: no joy… more screaming and flailing. Dad gets kicked in the face.
- Threaten to delete Bubble Guppies from the DVR.
- Dad pins your kid’s legs and arms to the bed.
- Attempt #3: no joy… you are amazed at how strong your kid’s head is.
- While Dad continues to basically sit on your kid, wedge their head in an arm vice.
- Attempt #4: Success! You squirt eye-drops in corner of your kid’s eyes while they turn beat red from screaming.
- Five minutes later your kid is watching Bubble Guppies, while eating a popsicle, and wearing their brand new Elsa dress.
- Apply ice to Dad’s swollen nose.
Yep, that pretty much sums it up.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Sara
This made me laugh a much. My littlest currently has conjunctivitis and we haven’t been able to administer any drops successfully!
We bribed my 2 and 4 year old girls with gummy worms every time they got the eye drops for their pink eye. It helped a little bit.
that is really funny Kristen. I suppose this is a rite of passage. lol.
Yep, that about sums it up!