Facing cancer when you have small children as I did is challenging. The short article I wrote below first appeared in one of Focus on the Family’s parenting newsletters in 2008. I thought these few pointers might be helpful to anyone else in a similar situation. I changed the names, but the story is our own.
Deanna discussed her hospital stay with her children when she learned she had cancer and asked if they would help decorate her room. Morgan, six, and Jason, eight, delighted in spreading glitter glue on a poster for their mom.
On the day of her surgery, Deanna left notes for her husband to give the children each day she was gone, and she invited them to eat her Jell-O and ride on her hospital bed as she recovered. When Morgan and Jason visited, they didn’t seem to notice her tubes and monitors, which she’d told them about, but were interested in riding on a bed that went up and down. Though they passed on the Jell-O, they took pride in their poster, which was displayed in Deanna’s room.
Hopefully, these few tips will spark other ideas which will help Moms and Dads parent their small children through the uncertain experience of having a parent with a serious illness. I found myself asking often for wisdom especially during that time and am thankful that if we need wisdom we can ask God “who gives generously to all…” James 1:4
Deanna discussed her hospital stay with her children when she learned she had cancer and asked if they would help decorate her room. Morgan, six, and Jason, eight, delighted in spreading glitter glue on a poster for their mom.
On the day of her surgery, Deanna left notes for her husband to give the children each day she was gone, and she invited them to eat her Jell-O and ride on her hospital bed as she recovered. When Morgan and Jason visited, they didn’t seem to notice her tubes and monitors, which she’d told them about, but were interested in riding on a bed that went up and down. Though they passed on the Jell-O, they took pride in their poster, which was displayed in Deanna’s room.
Hopefully, these few tips will spark other ideas which will help Moms and Dads parent their small children through the uncertain experience of having a parent with a serious illness. I found myself asking often for wisdom especially during that time and am thankful that if we need wisdom we can ask God “who gives generously to all…” James 1:4