Looking in ears and mouths without starting a major land war. The most difficult part of most pediatric exams is looking at eardrums and throats. Face it, otoscopes are fairly scary-looking, and kids are wary of being gagged by a tongue depressor. First of all, leave the HEENT exam for last. When you do get to that portion, tell the child that you want to show them something really cool. Take the otoscope and put your finger over the end and turn on the light. Point out how you have a cool "light up" finger now. Hold out the otoscope end and offer the child the chance to light up their finger. (Recalcitrant children are often convinced if a parent or sibling tries it out first.)

Now ask them to hold the otoscope tip for you and put it on the end like a hat. At this point, they've touched the otoscope enough times that they realize it isn't so scary. If you tell the child that you now want to see if they have light-up ears, most will not resist. Light-up noses and light-up teeth generally follow in quick succession.

This is more than just a game, incidentally. By doing the above, you've also learned a lot about the child's fine motor skills (placing an otoscope tip) and receptive language skills. It can surprise you that a shy 11-month-old can be grammatically sophisticated enough to understand "Can you put this on here?"