Ped Xing

We've been spending a lot of time sitting in pediatricians' waiting rooms lately, interviewing those willing to talk with us -- a surprisingly small percentage. They're all very pleasant, friendly, and display the appropriate paperwork, are available on weekends, etc. etc. However, none the offices we've visited have devoted any energy to making their waiting rooms kid-friendly: none have books, tables, puzzles, murals, toys, or even kid-sized chairs. None have Halloween decorations. None have walls any color beyond the neutral grayish, greenish, off-whitish one expects of medium-quality office building. Even if one subscribes to the fear that common toys in a pediatrician's office are, well, disease-ridden, there is still no explanation why the environments cannot be more lively, more friendly, and more stimulating.