Bringing kids to the doctor for their vaccine shots can be a tiresome challenge to many parents. As a kid, I remmeber myself giving my parents hell whenever it’s time for my vaccine shots. I didn’t want that needle going through my skin.

However, recent studies provided a clever solution to make the kids stop dreading their trips to the doctor. Here’s another useful tip I got from Reader’s Digest Asia, June 2007 issue.

If your child is in pain, it seems your comfort may be no match for the soothing effect of television. Researchers at the University of Sienna studied the pain level of 69 children as they gave blood samples. DUring the procedure, some where distracted by their mothers, some had no distraction, and others watched cartoons. The lowest pain level was recorded in the group watching TV.

There you go. Next time you bring your child to the doctor for anything that would concern needles, bring that portable DVD player with screen and CD/DVD of his favorite movie or cartoon show.

So, what distractions do you do to get your child to sit still for his shots? Please share it, and make the rest of us better equipped for these dreadful trips to the doctor with our tots.

*Credits to LegalJuice, ClevelandWomen, and iStockPhoto for the images.