Advice for telling children.

Hi there, I am a carer for my mum who has stage 4 terminal ovarian cancer. We have had the most recent prognosis this weekend and unfortunately my mums cancer has spread even further than previous times, it's now into her lungs aswell as most other areas in her body. 

Her consultant has now said a timeline would be around 2/3 months now until she will pass away, but he kept emphasising that she will go down hill very rapidly so could be much sooner. 

I myself have 3 children of my own. 2 of which understand everything to their own degree of understanding, they have never been kept in the dark about anything to do with their nannas condition. (My other children is a 6 month old baby boy so he doesn't know whats going on) this last devastating piece of news has hit hard for my family and I'm now unsure of how to tell my children. How am I suppose to explain that it could now happen anywhere ranging from now to a few days/weeks. I'm really looking for some advice from people who have been in a similar situation or find themselves in it now and would like to share how they've gone about it. Any help would be massively helpful. Thank you

Parents
  • I agree with Geeker. Age matters with how you tell them, not what you tell them.

    We got told to be truthful with our then 14 year old. Kids tend to deal with the truth better if they think you're being upfront with them. If you embellish things or flat out lie/remain quiet, they won't have confidence in anything you tell them and will worry more.

Reply
  • I agree with Geeker. Age matters with how you tell them, not what you tell them.

    We got told to be truthful with our then 14 year old. Kids tend to deal with the truth better if they think you're being upfront with them. If you embellish things or flat out lie/remain quiet, they won't have confidence in anything you tell them and will worry more.

Children