When did your adult child start booking med appointments?

[Anonymous]

lmao 45 yr old failed-to-launch SIL still has her parents book all of her appointments and pay for her luxury apartment. She's just lazy and my in-laws have been soft her entire life.

[Anonymous]

OP, I haven’t read all the answers, so sorry if this is a repeat response. I think the appt thing may be a symptom, not the problem. Sounds like anxiety to me. If that’s the case, the support that you give may need to look different from how you’ve been approaching things.

[Anonymous]

This is kind of sad, but I started around 16. I needed to get birth control and made an appointment at planned parenthood.

In high school, I can’t remember any time my parents took me to the doctor. I was alone when I got a sports physical. In college my doctors appointments were mostly birth control related too.

[Anonymous]

Both my kids have pretty serious health issues, and I needed to know that they could manage their conditions independently. I made them start calling — not just doctors, but also pharmacies, insurance company, etc. —before they graduated high school. I sat by their side, and I coached them. I also have coached them as they communicated with physicians in their portal, requested referrals, asked office staff for paperwork, etc.

Navigating the health system is a skill — a frustratingly difficult one. My kids cannot afford not to have the skill. TBH, the system is complex and opaque enough that they and I are still learning -- there's always some new issue. But the stakes are too high for me to have all the knowledge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:lmao 45 yr old failed-to-launch SIL still has her parents book all of her appointments and pay for her luxury apartment. She's just lazy and my in-laws have been soft her entire life.

Ick!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dd turned 18 and she says she has strep. She's a bit of a hypochondriac and I actually doubt she does. I thought it'd be a good opportunity for her to make her first appointment but she had no success, left the minute clinic bc she didn't like the lady, said no to tomorrow at pediatrician. Now she's mad at me bc I have not found her an appointment for today. I asked what she'll do in college and she said she'd call me. At 18 I made my own appointments.

My 18 year old is doing this now with me nearby as well as logging onto portals to request med refills. He leaves for college in August. I told him why he’s getting practice with this now. Kinda like when he was 12 and I stood back while he ordered his own food at chipotle. I paid.