Tips
For Parents of Teenagers
Parents often want their children
to go to doctors for checkups and to resolve certain problems,
but they fail to think about how their teenage children may
feel about modesty in medical settings and having opposite sex
doctors and nurses for certain procedures. Many adolescents
are very sensitive about the opposite sex seeing certain parts
of their body because they are undergoing a lot of changes.
Some children are too young to understand sex or what is happening
during an intimate exam or task, but that it just doesn't feel
right to them. Parents often teach their kids not to let anyone
see or touch them in areas covered by a bathing suit. Yet, children
have a hard time psychologically reconciling why individuals
in the medical profession should be given access to private
areas of their body that their parents told them not to. Some
of these children are left traumatized for life.
Most adolescent girls don't feel
comfortable letting their male pediatricians see certain parts
of their body. Many girls don't even like to discuss personal
matters such as periods and breast growth with their male doctors.
There is usually no need for teenage girls to have pap smears
if they are virgins. Check
out our article about virgins and pap smears. Sometimes,girls
have problems such as abnormally heavy menstrual periods, severe
cramps, or large ovarian cysts that need to be taken care of.
It is best that you find a female ob/gyn for her if
she has some gynecological problems that need to be addressed.
Be willing to drive as far as you have to in order to find a
good female ob/gyn for your daughter if there are no good female
ob/gyns where you live.
Many teenage girls are uncomfortable
with men including doctors touching certain parts of their bodies
and have been traumatized by male doctors intimately examining
them. Some have made a commitment to save sex until marriage
and feel that their future husband should be the only man who
can see and touch certain parts of their body.
Help your teenage child to think
in advance about what parts of her/his body need to be examined
before she/he goes to the doctor. For example, if your teenage
daughter has an elbow injury, it would be best if she could
wear a short-sleeved shirt instead of a long-sleeved shirt so
she would not have to take her shirt off. Remember that it is
unnecessary for a girl to take off her shirt for the doctor
to listen to her heart. If she wears a sweater, she should have
a thin shirt under it. Encourage your teenage children to speak
up about what they want in regard to their modesty in medical
settings no matter how hard it is. Make sure they know that
they have the right to decide if they want same sex nurses or
doctors for certain medical procedures and that they can refuse
to take their clothes off for certain procedures or even refuse
the procedure altogether.
Be sensitive to the fact that
your teenage son may not want female nurses around when he has
certain examinations or procedures that would expose his male
organs. It is very normal for a man to be modest. There are
many men who want only male nurses and doctors for certain procedures.
Many teenage boys have been traumatized by the physical examinations
they've had to have in order to play sports at school. Please
check out an article, Are Breast
/ Genital Exams Necessary for Sports Physicals?
If your child wants an all same
sex team for certain procedures or surgeries, work hard to advocate
for his/her wishes no matter how hard it is. Your teenage child
will appreciate your sensitivity to his/her needs for modesty.
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