Surgery is necessary and life-saving, but it’s also scary. For children, it can be especially frightening. The prospect of being put under anesthesia and never waking up is always a lingering fear, let alone the fear of what happens after waking up. The long road to recovery. The scars.

That’s why staff at the Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, California decided to ease pediatric patients into the process by putting them in a relaxed frame of minds. Their method? Instead of wheeling kids around in gurneys, they let young patients drive themselves into surgery in adorable miniature cars.

Children can choose between a pink VW Beetle, or a black mini Mercedes coupe. And it works, too. The technique has been so successful that an additional car has been donated to the hospital by an employee and their family.

Now, instead of nervous looks from parents and a sense of fear in the atmosphere, kids are not only treated to the fun experience of driving a toy car, but also get to feel the relief of seeing their parents genuinely smile pre-surgery. It’s such a better mood to set for everyone involved.

Hopefully more hospitals will implement similar procedures before surgery. And who knows, maybe hospitals will even start leasing out Mercedes-Benzes to adult patients.