Daddy Owen: You have a new kid. You need a pediatrician. How can you tell a good one from a bad one? It's times like this I know I need to ask my mum. Hi mum. Alright so mum how do you find a good pediatrician? First you're a retired pediatrician right?

Owen's Mum: I wouldn't say that. I think you should remember that I am a retired, maybe not retire family practitioner.

Daddy Owen: Ah.

Owen's Mum: And this is the point I want to make, a family practitioner may have lots of experience in pediatrics. But the family practitioner treats the entire family.

Daddy Owen: Right.

Owen's Mum: So the family practitioner had a far more comprehensive view of the family and knows where the child is coming from, knows where the parents are coming form. And there is an integral part of that family.

Daddy Owen: Ah I see, okay.

Owen's Mum: And I thought you remembered this because your own pediatrician is in fact also a family practitioner.

Daddy Owen: Yeah but he is just cheap too. Now you have a degree in Whales, right? That is where you got your?

Owen's Mum: I did go to medical school in Whales.

Daddy Owen: Does that count here? I mean is it real?

Owen's Mum: I got my degree in London. I am M-R-C-P-L-R-C-S.

Daddy Owen: That is cute with the letters. So alright so what are we looking for? SO they treat the family. What are some other key qualities of a pediatrician that?

Owen's Mum: Well this is important you are looking for a new pediatrician ask the friends you most admire or the people you work with who you most admire and who come from the same place or way of thinking that you do. And ask them who their favorite doctor is. Don't go screening down the internet for what the doctor's degrees are, and paper he or she has written. You want someone you can empathize with and someone who you treat each other as friends. And you don't take advantage of each other.

Daddy Owen: Don't take advantage of each other?

Owen's Mum: Never.

Daddy Owen: Okay. Let's see any other things? Like what would you say then if I had to ask three questions? I am seeing this pediatrician for the first time, I have three questions to ask to them and to decide whether I am ever coming back or even paying the bill. What do I ask?

Owen's Mum: I would ask them what experience they have. If I had specific questions regarding values I would ask about that. I would probably ask about their own personal background. Do you have children doctor so and so?

Daddy Owen: What are you wearing?

Owen's Mum: Oh well you can see.

Daddy Owen: Oh right yeah.

Owen's Mum: There is a breed of pediatrician that is very much towards putting down young parents and making them feels always as if they are doing the wrong thing.

Daddy Owen: You mean like a veterinarian puts down a dog?

Owen's Mum: No, no no making them feel incapable. And making them feel-it is a power thing.

Daddy Owen: Yes. That is a good thing then?

Owen's Mum: Oh that's a terrible thing.

Daddy Owen: No that's a bad thing.

Owen's Mum: That's a terrible thing.

Daddy Owen: So not the mean pediatricians.

Owen's Mum: Not the pediatrician that puts you down but the pediatrician that gives you praise.

Daddy Owen: Gives you praise, right.

Owen's Mum: Yes. The pediatrician you feel is your friend.

Daddy Owen: So what? A pediatrician that is friendly. That is aware of the entire family.

Owen's Mum: So preferable your own doctor too you see?

Daddy Owen: Your own doctor as well. And someone-

Owen's Mum: Then you are all familiar with the office. The children are familiar with the office. You are familiar with the office. The doctor's familiar with the entire family. It is like one big happy family. And this pediatrician or doctor is just part of the family.

Daddy Owen: Well okay great. So that is the way to find a good pediatrician even if they got the degree in some fictional place called Whales.

Owen's Mum: It was London, London.

Daddy Owen: Oh right, yeah sure, sure. This has been Ask My Mum.