Infant training

Besides basic skills, I have decided to try and train my seven-month daughter to choose the days on which to get sick. However, this is a tough job.

So let's see... weekends are out, because most pediatricians I have tried to contact when my regular pediatrician is abroad for work have their cellular phones switched off; after all they need to rest too, whether or not your daughter has a high temperature and risks a seizure.

Ah, but once I managed to get hold of one, and his reply was "don't you know that this is Sunday?" How stupid of me! I should have trained my child not to choose Sunday to get sick!

Then the severe eczema attack, what day can we choose for that? Weekends are obviously out because the skin specialist has worked during the week. Then I call Mater Dei Hospital, Boffa Hospital and finally his home, but he is nowhere to be found. All I need is to ask a question about the €100 medication that he prescribed, but the nice lady at home tells me that I should not ask for his cellular phone number because it is personal.

Then again she instructed me to call a private hospital, where I had previously been and paid €40 for a 10-minute session (excluding hospital fees) where he sees patients for one hour a week; how stupid of me not to have trained my baby daughter to control her severe itching and bleeding!

Is not the medical profession meant to be one of dedication and life-long commitment? It was stupid of me once again to think that my daughter was more than a clinic fee to the 'specialists' in the field.

But I do not lose hope. In fact just yesterday I was advised to see yet another specialist and my appointment is scheduled for next month; he must be good for having such a long waiting list... or would this mean that I will have to train my daughter to control her ailment for another month?