When a child is sick, parents can be very upset. If the child has to be put under general anesthesia, the whole family’s heart is involved. Many parents ask the doctor, “Is anesthesia dangerous? Will the anesthetic affect the child’s intelligence? What do we need to do before we put our child under anesthesia?” In order to eliminate parents’ worries and concerns, the author briefly introduces the knowledge about pediatric general anesthesia. How to administer general anesthesia to a pediatric patient Simply put, the most basic form of pediatric anesthesia is sleep plus pain relief. In order to free the child from unpleasant feelings and experiences, a mask is first put on the child after entering the room, and the child will smell an anesthetic gas with a fragrance – sevoflurane. The gas allows him/her to fall asleep quickly, and when he/she gradually falls asleep, the anesthesiologist establishes intravenous access and performs induction intubation to ensure that there is an adequate oxygen supply throughout the procedure. After successful intubation, the anesthesiologist will maintain anesthesia with medication. The pediatric vital signs (blood pressure, respiration, pulse rate, oxygen saturation) are closely monitored throughout the procedure. At the end of the surgery, the anesthesiologist stops administering the medication and the child will gradually wake up from the anesthesia. In the human brain, there is an area called the reticular superior structure of the brainstem, which is the main pathway for maintaining wakefulness, awakening and sleep, where anesthetic drugs mainly act. Anesthetic drugs work by blocking the transmission of pain to the brain and temporarily suppressing the child’s consciousness. The anesthesiologist regulates the amount of anesthetic drugs as needed during the procedure until it is completed. The effect of anesthetic drugs is reversible and short-lived, and then the metabolism gradually disappears, and the child slowly wakes up. The operation of standardized general anesthesia does not affect intelligence Intellectual development is affected by a variety of factors, the brain is the material basis of intellectual development, the environment and education is the decisive conditions for intellectual development, children must be under the long-term, integrated effect of these factors, in order to get different degrees or fast or slow intellectual development. Currently, there are no institutions or data that show a direct correlation between pediatric intelligence and anesthesia under standardized anesthetic practices. However, further studies are needed to demonstrate whether the intellectual development of children with multiple anesthetic exposures and those with prolonged single anesthetic exposures is affected. It is a misconception that “general anesthesia is more dangerous than local anesthesia”. Each pediatric patient tolerates anesthesia differently, and pediatric patients are prone to preoperative stress, anxiety, fear, and inability to express and communicate the danger. The main risks of pediatric anesthesia include respiratory depression, laryngospasm, hypoxemia, organ damage, nausea and vomiting, and regurgitation and aspiration. It should be noted that parents should correct the misconception that “general anesthesia is more dangerous than local anesthesia”. Proper general anesthesia not only makes the child feel comfortable and avoids adverse psychological effects due to fear, but also facilitates the smooth operation and improves surgical safety. Since pediatric anesthesia requires specialized anesthesia equipment and monitoring facilities, parents are advised to consider the conditions of the operating room and the technical level of the anesthesiologist when choosing a hospital, which is very important to ensure the smooth operation and improve the safety of surgical anesthesia. What conditions should your child avoid general anesthesia Avoid surgery during a cold (unless it is an emergency or life-threatening surgery). This is because the respiratory tract is highly irritable during a cold due to the inflammatory response, and children are prone to respiratory complications such as breath-holding, laryngospasm and bronchospasm during and for a period of time after anesthesia awakens, especially in infants and children within 1 year of age. It is generally accepted that respiratory stress is higher in pediatric simple respiratory infections for 2 to 4 weeks, and surgery should be avoided as much as possible. Comprehensive existing scientific reports show that general anesthesia can affect pediatric intelligence or memory and learning ability, and it has not been clearly reported that it leads to a decrease in IQ, so parents are asked not to worry too much.