The recent diagnosis of cancer in your family has led to many new concerns and questions. None of these concerns is more important or basic than your concern for your children and your desire to help your children cope. In the We Can Cope videos and guidebook, we share with you the approaches that have worked for other parents. We also share things that children who have a parent with cancer have told us about what was helpful to them when their parent was sick.

We have also included advice from professionals who have worked in this field for many years.
Kids are very sensitive to changes in their parents’ moods and behavior, so they may notice something is different in your household even before you talk with them. They may worry about many different things that could be wrong. One of the goals in early conversations with your children is to help them understand what is happening and to listen to their concerns. Your children will want answers to many of the same questions you had when you were first told about your disease.

These include:

"What do you have?"

           "Where is it in your body?"

                    "How did you get it?"

                                   "Am I going to get it?"