This Teddy Bear Clinic for Sick Kids Will Touch Your Heart

This Teddy Bear Clinic for Sick Kids Will Touch Your Heart
This Teddy Bear Clinic for Sick Kids Will Touch Your Heart

When it comes to childhood illnesses - especially the most gruesome ones; the ones that keep our tiniest people in hospitals for extended periods of time - it's hard to not get choked up. Not just parents, but especially parents who can intimately empathize with this kind of primal pain. The pain of seeing your child's body endure so much, and the time-consuming/all-consuming reality of having your baby stay in a children's hospital.


But what about the fear that these little kids feel? Foreign medical equipment - some loud, some large, all a little bit scary - surround them on a daily basis. There's always poking and pricking, along with tubes and monitors and teams of doctors in white coats. There's no preparation for this kind of environment.

Beyond fundraising and researching, what can we do to simply make these kids more comfortable in the most uncomfortable of situations?

Related: 25 things every kid should experience

Well the people at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health are hoping to minimize fear (along with tension and anxiety, which only make matters worse) with their recent Teddy Bear clinic.

You can read more about the program over at The Huffington Post, but the photos alone are enough to warm your heart.

Children with various illnesses, at various stages of their battle, doing what kids do best: Learning through playing. Familiarizing themselves with equipment and procedures with their very own teddy bear.

At best, it might help kids better cope with their own illnesses. But at the very least, Teddy Bear Clinics can inject a piece of childhood in an environment that's far too grown-up for even adults to handle.

Photo source: Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health

-By Michelle Horton

For 20 simple ways to show your kids you love them, visit Babble!

MORE ON BABBLE
7 things you should never say to a kid
12 things your kids MUST see you do
The 9 toughest things about being a parent