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