{"id":7343,"date":"2021-03-12T00:00:10","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T00:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdkidsfirst.com\/?p=7343"},"modified":"2021-03-12T00:00:10","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T00:00:10","slug":"dr-pontillo-featured-on-pbs-socal-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sdkidsfirst.com\/?p=7343","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Pontillo Featured on PBS SoCal"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbssocal.org\/education\/families\/i-want-it-now-how-to-talk-to-kids-about-being-patient-for-covid-19-vaccines\">&#8216;I Want It Now!&#8217;: How to Talk to Kids About Being Patient for COVID-19 Vaccines<\/a><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7237 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/sdkidsfirst.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pbssocal-logo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"130\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sdkidsfirst.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pbssocal-logo-200x108.jpg 200w, https:\/\/sdkidsfirst.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pbssocal-logo.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Kids may be itching to get back to their pre-pandemic lives, but we&#8217;re not out of the woods just yet.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"ArticlePage-subhead\"><strong>How do parents and caregivers explain that getting all of us vaccinated will take time? Two experts share their tips on managing vaccine impatience and fear in kids.<\/strong><\/div>\n<div class=\"ArticlePage-above\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"ArticlePage-bodyContent\">\n<div class=\"ArticlePage-richTextContent\">\n<p>As incredible as it seems, the COVID-19 vaccines are actually here and people across the country are receiving their first and second doses. But most families may not be getting their vaccines for months, and children for even longer, since clinical trials of the three vaccines available in the U.S. have been focused on adults and there are currently no vaccines that are approved to use on children. Even for families that have received vaccines, that does not mean that life will return to normal any time soon.<\/p>\n<p>So how do parents and caregivers explain all of this to their children? Many kids may be concerned about their safety as they hear people talking about getting protected from COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Janine Domingues, a clinical psychologist specializing in anxiety and mood disorders at the Child Mind Institute; and Dr. Deborah Pontillo, a child diagnostician, developmental and behavioral specialist and therapist at San Diego Kids First, gave their tips on how to manage vaccine impatience and fear in kids.<\/p>\n<h2>Talk About How the Vaccines Work and Acknowledge Kids\u2019 Fears<\/h2>\n<p>The first questions kids might have are around the new vaccines and how they work. Domingues said she explained this to her 5-year-old son by telling him that \u201cthey will give you a little part of the virus so your body knows what to do so you won\u2019t get sick. \u2026 Our body uses the vaccine to get strong, like building up muscles to fight it, so it won\u2019t hurt you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She added that it\u2019s helpful to draw a parallel to the flu vaccine, and remind kids that we already get vaccinated against the flu every year.<\/p>\n<p>Kids may also be feeling afraid about vaccinations themselves, as well as about how this vaccine is new. Domingues said caregivers should not over-emphasize the newness of the vaccine and instead \u201conly draw attention to the fact that it\u2019s a new vaccine only in that it\u2019s a new virus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith my son, we\u2019ve already talked about that it\u2019s a new virus, so we said, \u2018Scientists and doctors are making a new vaccine to help our bodies stay healthy at this time,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Pontillo added that it\u2019s completely normal for kids to be scared of shots, but caregivers can remind them why we get vaccines.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of kids know what a shot is and hate it,\u201d she said. \u201cIf they\u2019re scared to go to the doctor, it\u2019s because of a vaccine. \u2026 You can say, \u2018I know you don\u2019t like this, but it\u2019s going to keep you healthy, it\u2019s going to make your body strong and fight off getting sick.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ui-Quote-quote\"><strong>&#8220;You want to be making sure you\u2019re providing enough information to be reassuring \u2026 but we don&#8217;t want to make it the focus of our lives.&#8221;<\/strong><\/div>\n<div class=\"ui-Quote-attribution\">-Deborah Pontillo, San Diego Kids First child diagnostician, developmental and behavioral specialist and therapist<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Pontillo said even 3-year-olds know what COVID-19 is and that they have to wear masks, so caregivers can use that prior understanding to explain the vaccine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can say, \u2018You know how you wear a mask for your protection? The vaccine is another way of making your body strong to protect you so you don\u2019t get sick,\u2019\u201d Pontillo said. \u201cIt\u2019s an easy leap [for kids] to make.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;I Want It Now!&#8217;: How to Talk to Kids About Being Patient for COVID-19 Vaccines &nbsp; Kids may be itching to get back to their pre-pandemic lives, but we&#8217;re not out of the woods just yet. &nbsp; How do parents and caregivers explain that getting all of us vaccinated will take time? Two experts share  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6190,"featured_media":19974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_glsr_average":0,"_glsr_ranking":0,"_glsr_reviews":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dr. Pontillo Featured on PBS SoCal - San Diego Kids First<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sdkidsfirst.com\/?p=7343\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dr. Pontillo Featured on PBS SoCal - San Diego Kids First\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#8216;I Want It Now!&#8217;: How to Talk to Kids About Being Patient for COVID-19 Vaccines &nbsp; Kids may be itching to get back to their pre-pandemic lives, but we&#8217;re not out of the woods just yet. &nbsp; How do parents and caregivers explain that getting all of us vaccinated will take time? 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