With schools back and the coughs and colds season soon to be upon us, it seems inevitable that someone in our family is going to have a temperature sooner or later. And when that happens, I think we are all supposed to have Covid tests.
I am dreading trying to test our six year old daughter. She has always hated having anything done to her body by someone else. She gets hugely distressed by procedures as simple as having a GP listen to her chest. We've only recently been able to get her to cooperate with having her feet measured in a shoe shop. If we even try to discuss getting her hair cut, she puts her hands over her ears. You get the picture.
She is otherwise a very happy, NT little girl (though pretty shy with people she doesn't know). Her twin brother doesn't have these difficulties.
If we get to the point of trying to do a Covid test with her, whether at home or a test centre, I know she will totally freak out and be impossible to reason with. The NHS website's only advice, as far as I can see, is to put on a video for the child to watch and offer a reward at the end. None of that is going to make the slightest difference with our daughter, I know.
So, what do we do? On the one hand, she is clearly far too young to be taking decisions about what happens to her medically - particularly when such decisions have implications for people other than herself. On the other hand, I hate the idea of attempting to overpower her physically, and forcibly sticking things up her nose against her will. What's more, even if we managed to get a nose swab from her, I simply don't know how we'd get a throat swab. She would clamp her mouth tightly shut. I think children in the USA don't have to have the throat swab but, as I understand it, is a requirement here for a valid test.
Has anyone else attempted to do a Covid test with an uncooperative child? Are there any clever ways round this that I don't know about?
Any tips gratefully received.