Many Canadian children are faced with daily or routine injections to manage different conditions.

They may cause anxiety and apprehension for many children, but they can also take a toll on the entire family.

As a parent, it's important to keep a positive attitude to make injections a success for your child and family. This can be achieved by practising some of the following principles:

* Speak openly with your child. Explain why the injection is needed and how it will help.

* Normalize the injection by working it into your child's routine. A shared room in the home such as the kitchen encourages other family members to see, hear and possibly participate in the process.

* Encourage involvement from brothers and sisters by suggesting tasks that are both safe and manageable by the sibling. This might include holding their sibling's hand, distracting them or speaking words of encouragement.

* Offer your child choices to involve them in the injection process. An example might be: "When you are holding still, do you want to push the plunger or count with me?"

* New technological devices help parents and children with routine injections. As an example, novel child-friendly technologies, such as easypod, are designed specifically for child use and involvement. Easypod is an electronic autoinjector device used to administer recombinant growth hormone.

* A new resource for families was developed by Canadian nurses and a child-life specialist, called Injection Success. This booklet offers additional tips on managing injections, including tips for sleepovers and camping and managing the effect of the diagnosis on the whole family.

Ask your pediatric endocrinologist or endocrinology nurse for the booklet at your next visit. Parents can also visit website injectionsuccess.ca or call 1-877-724-9361 to get a copy of Injection Success.

Dr. Karen McAssey is a pediatric endocrinologist at McMaster Children's Hospital.