Canopy Cancer Care have a series of videos on their Canopy TV page on their website, and this month they look at how to involve your children in your cancer journey. Telling your children that you have cancer, and working out the best way to involve them in your cancer journey can be very challenging as a parent. In this video, Trish shares her experience in telling her sixteen year old son of her cancer diagnosis, and Suz tells her story of how she shared her cancer journey with her young children.
Trish says she was worried that her son would be unable to verbalise his feelings, and was advised by the Canopy Cancer Care Clinical Services Manager that it is important to tell them something, because telling them nothing is more frightening. Suz said she waited until she knew exactly what was going to happen so she could tell her children the things that would affect them.
It is explained to parents that kids often know something is going on, and if you don’t give them some information, they will fill in the gaps by themselves, which can be very frightening for them. Children of different ages will deal with information differently, and what you tell a four year old is very different to what you might tell a 14 year old.
Parents are also advised to think deeply about the time and place they speak to their children, and it needs to be somewhere they feel safe, and usually the home environment is the best place. Also, if you have a number of children it may not be the best idea to tell all of them at once, dealing with older children differently than you would with the young ones.
You should allow plenty of time, so that you can answer questions, and be honest with your answers, intimating it could be a hard journey, and for more information on breast cancer please go to http://www.canopycancercare.co.nz .
