Information about the sick child
Inform the child is sick and one of the most difficult decisions faced by parents following the diagnosis, and stand before the intriguing question: What will tell the child? In the past there was a tradition of strict no-painful truths about children, and today it is known there in that the patient should know as much as possible about his condition, and to the extent permitted by the absorption of the old, and in fact, even when they do not teach children about their illnesses , they learn their names and the difficulties and complexity since the first weeks of treatment, and it is impossible to withhold from them the fact that their illness is normal, since the status quo and society has told them and clearly they are: patients and taking special drugs, and that their parents and everyone became interested in too much to worry about them and their situation.
The question therefore is not for informing the child or not, but how to make the child knows that the whole issue is subject to the participation and understanding, and it is not isolated and you are welcome to talk to him about what happens, the basic principle and it is very important here is to communicate delicately and honest with the child, and failure to answer the questions of the child in a way spoil the relationship honest communication with parents, at a time when the child needs and strongly to this communication, and parents are more who can understand the moods, but should always bear in mind that the child and if not talking about the disease, and the fears that haunted them, and death, of course, no one can assume that these concerns do not exist, a child who realizes that his illness is more dangerous than all other childhood diseases is without doubt the most fear, secrecy, and will embody and exacerbate those fears.
What would you say exactly and when, this depends on the child's age and maturity, and extent of your ability, you may prefer to tell him yourself without the presence of a doctor or any other person, or with the help of another person close to the child, and in general, children under five need to tell them they are sick just so they going to address the drugs to heal, and that the needles painful, but for a minute and no more, isolation and loneliness are scary, especially for children under five should therefore be to assure them that you and that left them alone for a short period, you will return quickly.
While it is in children between six and ten are always fears of treatment and physical harm, they understand that it was a disease, an unusual and serious and threatening, so they need to know that they have cancer, but it is curable, and can inform them that the causes are unknown, and they will be subject to better treatments, and going to address many of the medicines, even healing, and that he was due to expire some time before returning to a previous reign, spread the spirit of the challenge of the disease may also be useful, depending on the maturity of the child.
Older children and teenagers are mature enough to understand their diagnosis, and treatment and complications of the disease, and may link them to cancer and death, and they need to inform them that the cancer can be treated, and that the therapeutic developments of modern achieved high cure rates, and for them the effects of cancer and Maagath on their normal activities and their outward appearance and their relationships with their peers is one of the very important issues.
And no matter what you say to the child about his illness, he remembered the death and fears related to it, so be ready to deal with his questions, even if it painful for you, and will refuse to discuss the issue of the fears of the child, and exacerbated his feelings of loneliness, which deprive you of the opportunity to reassure and offer your support, and add to talk about the fears of the child should be confirmed to him always that he can be cured of the disease and overcome it, and it should be noted that children of all ages are exposed to a feeling of guilt, and anger during the time of suffering the disease, and may arise a sense of guilt sense of the unconscious that they are infected because they were bad or sinful, so it should reassure them repeatedly that they did nothing wrong, and that they are loved, and may direct the child's anger internally to itself, and may be addressed to the parents or the parents because they allowed the disease to be caused, and in terms of Others feared many of the mothers and fathers before they say a child by saying the sinner may displease him, or cause him Shada nervous unnecessarily, and that rarely happens successfully communicate between the two parties honest, and if you do it will benefit the child's parents being involved in his feelings and does not Eekptha .
Address the situation of the child openly as possible, it becomes possible to continue a normal life as much as possible, and to share concerns and fears and concerns between the child and family and medical team, the impact of effective and soothing, look like child's happier because the knowledge of more information about the disease and treatment is better than the constant fear of the unknown, and medical care will be more successful because the child is actively involved and effective, and fathers and mothers will get rid of excess burdens in concealing the truth, and although the overall situation, everyone will be more comfortable in dealing with the disease and with the future.
And in the following paragraphs an overview of each age group in this context:
Children without the enactment of the second
Do not realize children this age the meaning of cancer, where they understand what they can see and touch only, and is going more concern about what is happening with them now, and worry more for keeping their distance from their parents, and when the children in the first year of life they think their sense of things around them, and how to control them, and more what scares them is the medical tests, some were crying, or being away, or writhing strongly in trying to control what is going on, and because the children when they reach the age of eighteen months, they start thinking about what is happening around them, it is better to be honest and honest with them about the frequent visits to the hospital, for example, and try to explain that some medical procedures be painful, it can be said for example that Nkhozat needles would be painful for a minute and it's OK to cry, it makes the child know you understand his feelings and accepted by, and assisted in your confidence, and also be useful to give the child some options where possible, for example, if the drug is taken by mouth, can be asked whether the child wants to eat with the juice, or choose to leave himself the injection site.
Children aged two to seven
Usually the children age between two and seven years old link between the events, and attribute them to something specific, for example, have linked the disease, and stay in bed and taking medications or certain foods, and they are at this age think often that their illness was caused by a specific act, so they think that healing will happen automatically or by crash specific rules.
The following suggestions may help when addressing the child in this age group:
Simplified methods are used to explain the disease, for example, try to explain that cancer is a battle between good cells and bad cells, and that eating good treatments will help the cells to be strong so you can overcome the bad cells.
Explain the disease and Maagath not a punishment for the child, what might be done or said or thought of it.
Explained that the treatment is necessary to remove the pain, or for improvement and resume play without feeling tired.
Explain the treatments and tests with the greatest possible openness, and remind the child that the work of all of these things is to get rid of the disease, and it helps to achieve healing.
Children aged seven to twelve
Children start in this age group to understand the links between things and events, for example, a child sees this age of his illness as a set of symptoms, and not linked him as a result of anything done or said, and understand that healing is linked to medications and do what he says the doctor, and be open to cooperation with treatment procedures, and can give more details when talking about cancer, but should also use the methods of explanation which has in the child, for example, can be explained that the body consists of different groups of cells, and these cells and functions and acts different, and also occurs among people , these cells must work together to complete the work, and cancer cells can be described as cells Riot hinder the work of the good cells, and treatment helps to get rid of these cells until the cells are good with each other very well.
Children over age twelve
Often understand the children over the age of twelve complex relations and interlocking between events, and is heading adolescents to think about the disease from the perspective of specific symptoms such as feeling tired, and from the standpoint of determining their daily activities common or changed, and they can understand the causes of the symptoms they suffer, and can be explain cancer as a disease makes little cells of the body speed up its growth, and sweeping other parts of the body, and impede the normal way to work the body, and the goal of treatment is to eliminate these cells.
