Pill training

In case you don't already know, we are going to Tanzania in May. Wow! Dad is taking the four of us, and Granty Jes and Aunt Deena are coming too. The kids are at a seriously awesome age for an ambitious family vacation. It's going to be amazing.

We have already been to the travel clinic to get up to date on all our shots and receive extensive medical advice and prescriptions. One of the vaccines is oral (typhoid) and has to be taken once every other day, four doses, well in advance of the trip. That's just me and Dale and Jordan; Aaron is too young for the oral version and got a shot instead. I started us on this regimen the other day and was surprised at how nervous Jordan was. And I realized... he's never taken a pill before! Kids' meds are all liquids! Whoops. Jordan got panicky, and could not believe he actually had to swallow a capsule, and didn't care what it was for, and in this case there are strict instructions not to chew it or let it melt in your mouth, so once it got wet there was a clock ticking, and he could not do it at all, and we wound up basically pilling him like a cat. No fun for anyone. I had two days until the next pill, so it was time to make a plan. 

The internet knows all. Various sources assure me that lots of kids have a hard time with pills, sometimes until they are teenagers. Kids with behavioral disorders like ADHD are especially prone to pill-hating and also likely to be getting a lot of pills, which is a lousy situation that I'm glad we're not in. Techniques like coating the pill with honey, hiding it in applesauce, etc., don't sound promising to me; those kinds of things never even worked with our cats. Instead, we are engaged in a course of Candy Training. Who doesn't like Candy Training?! I obtained a set of hard candies of increasing size. The tiny little decorator sprinkles are designed for instant success - they are laughably tiny (even the kids laugh), but actually offer some practice working a little hard thing around in your mouth and down your throat. When you've swallowed five of those in a row with no problem at all, you get to move to the next level (try not to say, "bigger one"): the little colored balls. Aaron is on that level now. Jordan has mastered that level and in fact can now swallow a tic-tac no problem. This is a big thrill for him, and yesterday he swallowed his typhoid pill with confidence.

In Africa, we will need to take a daily malaria pill, and man, those things are BIG. Aaron's prescription is for half a one a day and Jordan three-quarters, so apparently it's all right to cut them into pieces. But still. From tic tacs we will work up to cinnamon candies, and finally to Skittles, which I figure ought to be sufficient for anyone.