Helping a 6 year old through family cancer

Hi Sunny56489

I am sure you have told the school about what is going on too and they should be able to provide support to that. My son's school was really good and together we ensured a consistent message both at home and at school and that was very helpful to us all.

I am sure you will have already seen Talking to children and teenagers. Another book we found helpful was The Secret C: Straight Talking About Cancer by Julie Stokes - we first got a copy through our local library.

<<hugs>>

Steve

When my grandmother got breast cancer when I was 9 years old, my mom and I talked about what friends I would want to tell and how I could tell them. It was helpful for me to know that two of my best friends knew what was going on and I think it also helped when I would be moody. My coping mechanism was to withdraw from friends, and one of my friends and her mom helped me by doing more to reach out to me (send notes of support) when I would avoid events. 

I realize that I don't have all of the information about your case, but perhaps part of your daughter's challenge is that she doesn't know how to talk about it, and it may help her feel more secure if she knows that her closest friends know that she is behaving differently because of something in her family. 

What I can say about my own experience, for what it is worth, is that my siblings and I all reacted differently and we all managed to bounce back to our typical behavior after a while. It was very helpful to have the adults in our family validate our feelings and remind us that we were acting differently in part because we were scared and sad.