The nurse is admitting a 10-year-old for surgery. What action should the nurse prioritize when caring for this child?

Choice A reason: Consistent rules help toddlers understand expectations, fostering predictable behavior and security. This aligns with pediatric developmental discipline strategies, making it a correct point to teach parents, as it supports effective toddler behavior management and reduces confusion during disciplinary interactions.

Choice B reason: Scolding with labels like “naughty” shames toddlers, hindering self-esteem and learning. Consistency and boundaries teach effectively without negativity, making this incorrect, as it promotes ineffective discipline that may emotionally harm toddlers rather than guide their behavior constructively in the class.

Choice C reason: Toddlers begin learning self-control around 2, not 3-4 years, through guidance and boundaries. Consistency supports this, making this incorrect, as it underestimates toddlers’ capacity for early self-regulation when provided with appropriate disciplinary structures in a parenting education setting.

Choice D reason: Immediate addressing of behavior is ideal but not always necessary; delayed correction can still teach toddlers. Consistency and boundaries are more foundational, making this partially correct but incorrect for prioritization compared to the broader principles of discipline taught in the class.

Choice E reason: Boundaries provide toddlers with structure, promoting safety and behavioral learning even at a young age. This aligns with pediatric discipline principles, making it a correct point to emphasize, as it helps parents establish a framework for effective toddler behavior management in daily interactions.

Choice A reason: Consents for surgery involve legal and procedural details, typically handled by providers, not nurses. Educating on growth and development is within nursing scope, making this incorrect, as it exceeds the nurse’s role in instructing families of a child with a chronic illness.

Choice B reason: Instructing on growth and development changes helps parents understand their child’s progress despite chronic illness, within the nurse’s educational role. This aligns with pediatric nursing practice, making it the correct situation for the nurse to provide instruction in the pediatrician’s office.

Choice C reason: Explaining diagnostic tests and lab work is typically the provider’s responsibility, as it involves medical interpretation. Growth and development education is nurse-appropriate, making this incorrect, as it falls outside the nurse’s primary instructional role for the chronically ill child’s family.

Choice D reason: Diagnosing secondary problems is a medical responsibility, not within nursing scope for instruction. Growth and development guidance is nurse-led, making this incorrect, as it involves diagnostic communication beyond the nurse’s role in educating the family of the chronically ill child.