Pre-schoolers
The term preschooler usually refers to children between 3 and 5 years of age. At this age, children are immensely curious and want to explore the world around them on a daily basis. They are quickly becoming "social butterflies," with minds of their own and ever-increasing vocabularies. In the midst of all these exciting milestones, you and your family will want to stay aware of how the child's hemophilia will affect your lives. There are precautions you can take and issues to keep in mind as the child begins to enter a wider community.
Growth, Development, and Socialization
During this period of growth and development, children begin to learn and master many developmental tasks:
- Both fine and gross motor skills, such as walking, jumping, balancing, riding a tricycle, climbing stairs, feeding themselves, and drawing pictures
- Greater involvement in the family unit
- Communicating with an increasingly larger group of people
- Becoming independent (e.g., dressing themselves)
- Toilet training (although each child will accomplish this at a different age)
- Learning to control impulses and being guided to different activities
Many parents and families ask if hemophilia will affect their child's normal growth and development with these and many other tasks. The answer is a resounding NO! Hemophilia will NOT affect or hinder a child's development. Nevertheless, a preschooler with hemophilia will certainly provide their caregivers with challenges as the years pass. Ongoing communication with your hemophilia care team will help you and your family meet these challenges and build on your knowledge and strengths.
Considerations for Daycare
For various reasons, many parents place their children in a daycare setting during the preschool years. It may be a private daycare in a neighbour's house or a larger, organized daycare in a school or community centre.
While all parents want the best daycare for their child, there are special considerations for a child with hemophilia. Before you and your family visit or enroll in a daycare centre, discuss safety concerns with your doctor or nurse coordinator. These conversations will help you understand the most important points that you can then discuss with daycare centre staff—such as:
- The staff's willingness to learn the basics of hemophilia
- The staff's willingness to work with you and the Hemophilia Treatment Centre (HTC) to develop a care plan and a plan of action for emergencies
- The professionalism and maturity of the staff working in the daycare centre
- The ratio of staff to children
- The physical safety of the environment (e.g., stairs, sharp protruding edges)
Your comprehensive care team may also be able to make recommendations for specific daycare centres near you. And your hemophilia nurse coordinator can contact your chosen daycare centre to further discuss concerns and answer any questions they might have.
Freedom to Grow—Safely
The preschool years are very busy years for your child. There will be bumps, falls, and tumbles—and depending on the severity of the hemophilia, there will likely be bleeds too. It isn't practical or healthy to wrap a child in cotton or attempt to put him in a bubble during these active years. Children—even those with hemophilia—must be allowed to explore and experience life within safe limits. Recent advances in the development of factor treatment should give parents, family members, and other caregivers confidence that preschoolers with hemophilia can be treated for bleeds, and that the bleed, in most cases, will resolve. Look also to your comprehensive care team to help you to give your child the freedom to grow, while providing a safe environment for them and peace of mind for you.
It's natural to have lots of questions about the care and treatment of your or your loved one's preschooler. You'll find a great deal of useful information on this website, but just remember that for medical advice, always contact your doctor, nurse coordinator, or other Hemophilia Treatment Centre staff member.