Talking to very young children about cancer

Hi Monty 

Welcome to our community, I hope you find it both informative and supportive.

Sorry to hear about your daughter-in-law, my experience of cancer is via my wife who has Leiomyosarcoma and our son was quite young when she was first diagnosed - he is now nearly 22!

I did find a few colouring books that were quite helpful and I would also recommend the secret C by Julie Stokes. We were also lucky to get a lot of support through his school and were keep to keep them in the loop. 

Something I found quite helpful for me was looking at Your feelings when someone has cancer and I wonder if that might be helpful for your son too. 

<<hugs>>

Steve

Thanks so much for this Steve.  I'll definitely have a look for the book you mention.

Hi Monty,

Sorry to hear about your daughter-in-law. My partner was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer and is currently going through treatment.

Our local Macmillan support centre at the hospital showed us a support box from "Fruitfly Collective" which have different suitable age range boxes of helping to explain the situation. They also have loads of printable resource which could be of benefit?

Using these resources we made a "Daddy's story" with relevant information for our situation, which we then gave a copy to school and grandparents so everyone knew what we had said - this has reduce the chances of confusion and questions that the children have asked that couldn't be answer we advised that we would answer them.

School has been amazing as we've kept them in the loop. We also made a "pack" for them which had the story, some colouring activities as well as a worry box which the children have access to so they can write/have things written down cause worries/questions can happen anytime of the day. This has help us with understanding how much they know/worry about the situation.

As a carer, the link Steve mention has very helpful for myself so could be useful for you son?

Sarah

Sarah, this is so helpful.  Thank you very much.  

Monty