When a member of the family receives a prognosis, it will possibly current emotional challenges for kids, as an skilled defined in an interview with CURE.
CURE sat down with Kori Hatfield, who’s the outpatient social work supervisor at Moffitt Most cancers Heart in Tampa, Florida, to debate find out how to speak with kids a couple of member of the family’s most cancers prognosis.
“Youngsters have all the feelings that we do,” Hatfield stated. “And so, youngsters can have some anticipatory nervousness if they do not know what is going on on, however they will inform and really feel from their dad and mom that one thing anxious is occurring, or they overhear issues about physician’s appointments, and they’re making an attempt to place items of that puzzle collectively, however they do not actually know what is going on on.”
Transcript
What recommendation do you have got for speaking with kids a couple of most cancers prognosis?
As a father or mother, we’re form of inherent in wanting to guard our youngsters from exhausting issues, proper? And so that is a type of exhausting issues that isn’t as simple to guard them from, and so leaning into the discomfort of getting a few of these difficult conversations, letting your baby know that you’ve a most cancers prognosis and what that remedy goes to appear to be and the way that remedy goes to affect their day by day lives, disrupt these potential routines, whether or not that be that different relations are concerned with transportation to issues or serving to out with homework. If the kid is aware of what is going on on, that helps to present context to a few of these disruptions and adjustments in their very own routine.
Youngsters have all the feelings that we do. And so, youngsters can have some anticipatory nervousness if they do not know what is going on on, however they will inform and really feel from their dad and mom that one thing anxious is occurring, or they overhear issues about physician’s appointments, and they’re making an attempt to place items of that puzzle collectively however they do not actually know what is going on on. They will unintentionally make up their very own solutions to that, and particularly younger youngsters have magical pondering, the place they may assume they’re the explanation why their dad and mom are upset, or they trigger their father or mother’s most cancers.
So if we’re capable of allow them to know that there is a most cancers prognosis, that that is the remedy that we’ll have, that that is the negative effects which might be going to occur, these are the adjustments in your routine, there’s nothing that you simply did to trigger this, most cancers just isn’t one thing that you would be able to catch from mommy, and it is not one thing that mommy did or caught from anyone else. It is no one’s fault. All of that reinforcement helps to offer some consolation to the kid throughout the house.
References
- “Making Again-to-College Simpler for Households Going through Most cancers,” Moffitt Most cancers Heart, Aug. 4, 2025; https://www.moffitt.org/endeavor/archive/making-back-to-school-easier-for-families-facing-cancer/
- “Again to College Time Creates ‘Excellent Storm’ For Households Going through Most cancers,” CURE, Aug.18, 2025; https://www.curetoday.com/view/back-to-school-time-creates-perfect-storm-for-families-facing-cancer
Transcript has been edited for readability and conciseness.
For extra information on most cancers updates, analysis and training, don’t overlook to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters right here.
