Someone I Love is Sick provides you with a personalized way to help your young children understand some of the changes that happen in a family touched by cancer. The suggested age range for this book is 2-6 years old, but older children may also find it interesting. Younger children are very concrete and need an educational tool which can be adapted to almost any family situation.
This tool provides many pages covering various situations involving a parent or grandparent with cancer. Choose the pages that make the most sense, covering the issues that are most important to you right now. The pages are grouped by categories. Use the following guideline to make your selections. The pages you select are then inserted into the binder for your family’s personalized book.
- Try to have a balance of pages that provide information and pages that address feelings.
- Use fewer pages for younger children, or those that have a short attention span, and more for older children.
- You don’t need to tell your children about everything all at once. Introduce just those topics that are most immediate.
- Add new pages when new events occur, or when you see changes in your child.
- Try to end each version of the book with something positive, or a way for your family to work together to continue on with life.
The information on this website provides additional information and more specific suggestions for talking to children of different ages and comprehension levels about the impact of cancer.