TY - JOUR T1 - Talking to children JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 861 LP - 863 VL - 57 IS - 544 AU - Quentin Spender Y1 - 2007/11/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/57/544/861.abstract N2 - Children may have varied expectations of going to see a doctor, depending on age, what parents have said, and previous experience of health professionals. Many children might expect the doctor first to find out what is wrong, perhaps by asking questions, by prodding, by sticking a needle in, or by just knowing. I remember once, as a paediatric registrar in Hackney, asking a Bangladeshi father whose wife spoke no English what was wrong with their child. He said that I was the doctor, so I should know. I would have done better to ask the child.Children may often be dissatisfied with their interactions with health professionals,1 but may not say so unless asked, unlike their parents, who may insist on having their say. A simplified case example follows to illustrate the need to allow children to voice their concerns. A 10-year-old boy has recurrent abdominal pain that often begins on schoolday mornings, mostly gets better on Friday evenings, and improves if he is driven to school by his dad. He had not told anyone, until his school nurse asked him directly, that he was being bullied on the bus on the way to and from school. In general practice children with social or educational stress very commonly present with symptoms that could be regarded as partly psychosomatic, such as bed-wetting, asthma, recurrent abdominal pain, and headaches.2Children's ratings of the doctor's interviewing skills may not be as reliable as those of the parents,3 but it is likely that diagnostic assessment will be more accurate if the … ER -