Helping a Child Cope With the Serious Illness of a Family Member

Young children can have a hard time understanding illness and disease. Because they can really only understand what they can observe with their senses, it is very difficult for them to understand the biology of the body and how illness effects the person. The child may feel responsible for the family member’s illness and may question whether they, too, will become ill.

When someone in the child’s family is seriously ill, whether it is physical or mental, the whole family is thrown off balance and the child’s life changes. It is a challenge to meet the needs of the sick member and keep the healthy child’s life as stable and normal as possible. This is where the child care provider can step in and take a supportive role.