Today is National Cancer Day: How to talk to children about cancer

Today is National Cancer Day, so I thought it would be appropriate to look at how we tell the children in our lives that someone they love has cancer. When my husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer, he chose to have radiation treatment. He joked that he was “Radioactive Man,” but the downside to it was that he could not hold or even be very close to our granddaughter for a few months. He had to make sure he positioned himself far enough away from her at the dinner table, and couldn’t have her sit on his lap. Since Tally was very young, my daughter told her simply that Grandpa was sick, but he would be able to hold her soon. When “soon” arrived, it was a joyous moment for both.


In making the decision what to tell a child about a cancer diagnosis the most important thing is the child’s age. The younger they are, the more basic the information should be. If you decide to tell them nothing, remember, kids know more than we think and if you do not tell them, they will imagine something much worse. The truth is always the best.

I am not an expert, so I will be handing you off at this point to the good people at the American Cancer Society who are. http://www.cancer.org/treatment/childrenandcancer/helpingchildrenwhenafamilymemberhascancer/dealingwithdiagnosis/dealing-with-diagnosis-how-to-tell-children