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How death will affect my child.

Bellabelle
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My dad has a very rare cancer and doesn't have long left with us. Only diagnosed at xmas. I am devastated but I don't know how best to deal with things for my six year old daughter. She loves her grandad so much. We have been quite open with her and although im sometimes upset we carry on as usual. She knows he's not able to play now and that he is in and out of hospital. She doesn't ask questions but she will be hit hard when grandad dies. I will too but i feel so sorry for her. When the time comes how do I tell her, what do I tell her and does she go to the funeral or is she to young?

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    Hello Bellabelle and a warm welcome to the forum though i am sorry you have to be here, and your dads diagnosis. I have been where you are when my kids lost their nan, my mum, at a young age, At first i tried to shield them from what was happening but realised pretty quickly they new something was wrong with nan and it was having a impact on their behaviour and mood, so decided to be open with them, being as honest as possible with them helping them to understand what was happening and most importantly asking them to talk about their feelings, which i did when we talked about nan and all the good times the had with her. I not only took my kids to nans funeral, i asked them if there was anything they would like, or to say, at the service. Bellabelle my kids were 7, 5 and 4 and they all cried through the service but were back to their usual selves soon after. We filled a box with a lot of nans things that reminded them of all the happy times they had with nan, which we went through whenever they wanted and after a few weeks the kids tears were replaced by smiles, take care.

    Eddie

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    Hello Bellabelle and a warm welcome to the forum though i am sorry you have to be here, and your dads diagnosis. I have been where you are when my kids lost their nan, my mum, at a young age, At first i tried to shield them from what was happening but realised pretty quickly they new something was wrong with nan and it was having a impact on their behaviour and mood, so decided to be open with them, being as honest as possible with them helping them to understand what was happening and most importantly asking them to talk about their feelings, which i did when we talked about nan and all the good times the had with her. I not only took my kids to nans funeral, i asked them if there was anything they would like, or to say, at the service. Bellabelle my kids were 7, 5 and 4 and they all cried through the service but were back to their usual selves soon after. We filled a box with a lot of nans things that reminded them of all the happy times they had with nan, which we went through whenever they wanted and after a few weeks the kids tears were replaced by smiles, take care.

    Eddie

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