Ds has had grommets three times.
Each time they've put him under with the gas and then done the needle once he's out. The first two times I had to say to them to just do it, as I could see he wasn't going to let them get near him with the gas, but the last time they challenged him to blow up a balloon with this pipe, then when he started they switched it to have the gas in and he was straight off.
Anyway, the third time he did get nervous, so I only told him the night before, then told him he could choose what food he ate at midnight (before the fast began) and then we'd do something.
He chose egg mayo sandwiches, followed by a scoot round the houses, then hot chocolate when he got back. He was so excited by that, that he forgot to be nervous.
On the day I told the nurse he was nervous and they got the play therapist to talk it through with him.
A couple of things that I wish I'd prepared him for on the earlier ones was the cannula in his hand when he came round. He did keep pulling on it, and they ended up taking it out early because they were worried he might injure himself.
The second thing was I assumed I would wait in recovery. So I told him I'd be there when he woke. They don't let you in recovery until they've come round so they can check them without a parent in the way, so he was upset I wasn't there.
The other thing I did for him was had a present for him to open (something like a soft toy or a book) once he was at the stage of fully awake. He doesn't do general anaesthetics well, and takes ages to really come round properly, and stop vomiting and eat. So something new for him to cuddle/listen to with little input from made that time easier as it distracted him enough.