The Conversation With the Children About Your Illness

Where to start

• Fit what you say to their age, with three short sentences for the youngest.
• Come back to the subject a little at a time over the following weeks.
• Answer each question briefly and without fuss, then go back to what you were doing.

The rest of the tip, and why it works, is in the library.

Source

Macmillan Cancer Support, age-calibrated guidance on telling children

It goes with

• The Conversations Parents Avoid. For parents who need to tell their child something hard and don’t know how to start.
• When a Child Is Grieving. For parents whose child has lost someone, or something, that was there last week.

The first chapter you open here is free to read in full.

Free on this subject

• Difficult conversations. What to do first, what helps, and who else can help. Free to read and to print.
• Family stress. What to do first, what helps, and who else can help. Free to read and to print.