First Experiences: Going to the Hospital

Date: 1988
Author: Fred Rogers
Photographs: Jim Judkis
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Series: First Experiences
ISBN: 0399215301
Purchase: Amazon (Paperback)

Text and photographs copyright © 1988 by Family Communications, Inc.

Summary

Going to the Hospital is a publication from the Mister Rogers' Neighborhood First Experiences series. In this book, real life photos are used to help young people feel more comfortable with any fears or reservations they may be feeling about going to the hospital.

A Note From Fred Rogers

When children have to go to the hospital, it can be a hard time for them, as well as their parents and other people who take care of them. One reason we made this book was to show children what hospitals are like, and we hope the words and pictures will be helpful in that way.

Another reason for this book, though, was to give you and the children in your care a way to talk about going to the hospital and about some of the feelings adults and children both have when hospitalization occurs. Talking together is one of the best ways to make feelings manageable. As you trust one another with those feelings, you may find that talk turns into play. Play is something we always encourage because it is one of children's most important ways to get used to the idea of something new -- especially when it's something new that could be scary.

People who love children hate to have them very sick or badly hurt, but there are things we adults can do when such times come. We can remind ourselves that those times are not our fault. We didn't make our child sick or hurt. And we can give our children the best care we know. Sometimes that means taking them to the hospital. Since we adults have feelings, too, we need to be gentle with ourselves as well as with our children as we all prepare for any first experience in our life. We can't possibly anticipate every aspect of hospitalization for our children, but showing them that it's all right to talk about the kinds of things that might happen is a healthy beginning.

However you choose to use this book, we hope it will help you and the children you care for all grow together through times that may be hard.