A Two Year Old Goes to Hospital

If going to hospital means losing the care of the mother, the young child will fret for her - no matter how kind the doctors, nurses, and play ladies.

A Two Year Old Goes to Hospital, made in 1952 by James Robertson, drew attention to the plight of young patients at a time when visiting by parents was severely restricted.

Laura, aged 2, is in hospital for 8 days to have a minor operation. She is too young to understand her mother's absence. Because her mother is not there and the nurses change frequently, she has to face the fears, frights and hurts with no familiar person to cling to.

She is extremely upset by a rectal anesthetic. Then she becomes quiet and "settles". But at the end of her stay she is withdrawn from her mother, shaken in her trust.

In recent years there have been great changes in children's wards, partly brought about by this film. But many young children still go to hospital without the mother, and despite the play ladies and volunteers the depth of their distress and the risks to later mental health remain an insufficiently recognized problem.

This film's study of typical emotional deterioration in an unaccompanied young patient, and of the subtle ways in which she shows or conceals deep feelings of distress, remains as vivid and relevant as when it was made.

More information is available at robertsonfilms.info.

Also available Going to Hospital with Mother

SPECIAL OFFER  Going to Hospital. Two Films by James Robertson

This item is authorized for US sales only.

Available On: DVD
Produced By: James Robertson
Running Time: 30 minutes