Someone I Love is Sick is a customizable tool to use when talking with children ages 2-6 years old about a parent or grandparent who has cancer. Pages can be selected to address the family’s specific situation including diagnosis, treatment, hospitalization, recurrence and, if need be, end of life.

 It addresses the unique learning capabilities and needs of very young children. They are sensitive to changes in their families, but their capacity for understanding and coping with these changes is limited by their attention span, language level, understanding of time sequencing and retention abilities.

 
Many young children learn well from being told or read stories, but the story must respect the specific developmental abilities of this age group. At the current time, there are no materials developed to help them understand and cope with the reality of a parent or grandparent with cancer. For a story to be most effective, it should be designed to be specific to that family, that child and that cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Someone I Love is Sickhas been developed in such a way that it can be adapted by parents, guardians or health care professionals to be used in many situations involving a parent or grandparent with cancer. The pages are loose-leaf, pre-printed pages of the many realities of cancer in the family, all at a pre-school level, with instructions for how to select the appropriate pages. Guidelines are provided so that parents or guardians using Someone I Love is Sick have the tools and the autonomy to help their own children.

I found this book to be genuine, and touching. my daughter is starting to ask about death since her grandmother died last year. although she go from cancer, the book still gives a good definition of what to expect for children. I was afraid my daughter wasn’t emotionally stable for this book, it made me cry. she did okay with it though.

for more information please visit www.someoneiloveissick.com