Communicating with Your Child

Avoid Hearing by Overhearing

In the absence of straightforward communication from you, children may end up with misinformation that easily creates more worry and a feeling of secrecy or mistrust. Overhearing your conversations with others may send the negative message to your children that the illness is too scary to talk about directly with them, or that they are not important enough to be included in the conversation.

Setting the record straight

Children will also hear general things about the type of illness you have from people outside the family, at school, or in the media. Encourage your children to tell you about these other sources of information so that they can check them out with you and have inaccuracies corrected.