Rude, patronising…or both?
by Hannah ~ 19th August 2008. Filed under: Hospitals, Munchkin, Photos.If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
The munchkin managed to tip her rocking chair over this morning and banged her forehead on the edge of the table the TV stands on. I was sitting on the sofa so was able to get to her immediately and by the time I picked her up she had a big lump and cut.
A few minutes of umming and ahhing later (post getting a cold wet flannel to put on her forehead) and the munchkin and I were on our way to the local NHS drop in centre to have a quick check of it. The lump was getting bigger and the munchkin wouldn’t let me anywhere near it.
Thankfully we didn’t have to wait for long and were called in to see a nurse in the assessment room. Apart from checking the munchkin’s pupils she didn’t look at her at all and just told me to keep an eye on her. As she was telling me how to identify whether the munchkin had any double vision I had to turn away from her to watch the munchkin (who was trying to climb onto her pushchair, an act which has caused her to tip the chair onto herself in the past) I was asked whether I was listening and to repeat what I had just been told! I felt like I was being spoken to as one of the many young mums that fill our town rather than a 27 year old graduate/ex-teacher.
I can’t decide whether she was being rude or patronsing or what. I definitely wasn’t impressed. I was worried enough about my daughter to bring her in to be checked out when she’d had a nasty bang on the head, of course I was going to listen to the person I’d gone to for advice!
I’m now toying with contacting the local PALS team as I came out of there feeling awful. I shouldn’t be made to feel like that when I’ve just gone for a bit of advice as a worried mother.
The munchkin has perked up a lot this afternoon, she was very subdued earlier. She is tired though. This photo was taken about 10 minutes after she banged it, just before we went out. I texted it to Mum to get a second opinion on whether to get it checked out. (sorry about the crap photo, my mobile camera is not good)
The lump is less pronounced now, her whole forehead is swollen instead.
As a result of the difficulty in getting the munchkin to tolerate a flannel on her head I did buy a Mr Man gel pack to use another time, maybe she’d be happier with that!
19th August 2008 at 8:27 pm
Ouch! That looks painful.
She’s clearly just one of those people - if the munchkin had managed to pull the buggy over because you were too busy listening then she’d have branded you a bad mum. Either way, you weren’t going to win.
20th August 2008 at 7:23 pm
Ouch! She should have known you were worried/pre-occupied and also watching a child - I think she sounded very rude.
We have one of those Mr Men gel packs (erm never let your kids throw them at walls) - and they work well. Often for falls etc the bruised child comes sobbing and asking for ‘Mr Happy.’
21st August 2008 at 11:05 am
We’ve already had to use Mr Happy…the munchkin trapped her finger in her bedroom door last night as I was getting her milk ready!
She definitely was happier with that than a flannel.
21st August 2008 at 10:08 pm
How’s the munchkin doing now? Has her bump gone down?
Some people are very abrupt! I think if a nurse had spoken to me like that under those circumstances, I would of probably started crying!!! Did she not think you were feeling bad enough as it was!
24th August 2008 at 5:20 pm
Ouch, sore!
She was patronising and rude. Do contact PALS. Bad enough she asked if you were listening but to then demand you repeated the advice was disgraceful. So many better ways she could handled things.
I would have a) burst into tears, b) asked her who the h**l she thought she was talking to c) suggested she updated her communication skills.
26th August 2008 at 12:12 pm
Sounds rude and patronising to me to be honest
Poor munchkin! Ouch!
26th August 2008 at 3:38 pm
Oh poor Munchkin! That’s what ST’s looked like when he fell over and banged his head on the door frame. Looked worse than it was but always best to get them checked out, in my opinion, if it involves the head!