3 Important Points to Remember When Your Child is Having an Asthma

These three vitally important points should be shared between you and your child.

They are the key to your child having asthma but enjoying good health.

First, help your child to take control. Only by knowing how to control his condition will your child be able to stop it controlling him. You have to be confident about how the medication he has been prescribed works, and how it needs to be taken to be most effective, so that you can pass this information on.

Control is achieved through the right medication in the correct amounts, taken at the right time, using an appropriate age related device. A healthy diet and lifestyle, which not directly affecting your child's asthma will ensure that he is fit and give him a better chance of fighting off infection.

Talk to your child to discover when he feels vulnerable because of asthma. You can them work with him to find ways that situations can be improved, how you can help him to remember to take his medication at the correct times. It is also important that he knows to stop physical play and exercise when and if he needs to.

Second, concentrate on prevention of asthma. As you help your child to understand his asthma you will also be showing him how to prevent attacks. A good time to talk to him is when he is relatively asthma free. Try to get him acknowledge what triggers an attack and what to do about it. You may suggest that your child works out an asthma plan, your asthma nurse or doctor could help.

Make it clear that he is in control and you have complete confidence in him, but that he can talk to you at any time about anything that worries him. Your child may be very unwilling for you to include his school in any plan of prevention. While you can sympathize with his dread of being singled out from his classmates, be honest with him and say that you have to inform the school of his condition and know they can help.

Third, know when to tell someone. Teaching your child to tell somebody if he feels he is losing control over his asthma can be quite difficult. It is your job to help him overcome any worries he may have about communicating his needs to an adult.

You can pave the way by making sure that the staff at his school are properly informed, and that the parents of friends he visits understand. However, it is vital that your child learns to tell somebody, sooner rather than later, if he ever feels an asthma attack is impending or is underway.