Death is never an easy topic to address, more especially for the parents of children with life limiting or life threatening diseases. The Palliative Care Center at WebMD published an informative article entitled “Talking to Children about Death and Dying”.
The article discusses whether or not parents should talk to their children about death and how they should go about it. It also examines how to go about breaking bad news to children, what the parent should expect and lastly what children understand about death and dying at different ages.
According to the author, when parents avoid children’s questions, the children may ask someone else or keep silent resulting in unnecessary anxiety. It is vital to acknowledge and respond to their questions and let children know that their concerns are important, which will lead to a growth in trust between children and parents.
On ensuring that children and siblings don’t feel ‘left out’ of important conversations the writer warns against parents always whispering or leaving the room to talk to doctors. They warn that siblings may realise that more attention is focused on the sick child and wonder what is wrong. “Without continued open communication, children may draw the wrong conclusions from these observations.”
The article gives pointers that, with the help of a palliative care team, can make this difficult task less daunting for parents. For the full article on the WebMD website, click here.
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