Sibling Support

Toys like these are usually available from the Child Life Specialist. Your child can see lines that may be on a sibling and ask questions about what they do.

This is a great way to help children understand cancers like tumors. For example, my daughter made a dough head and we used a different color to make a tumor to put inside. We talked about how it didn’t belong and we can’t see what is making her sister sick.

Some children may start to pretend to play that they are sick. Let them play! Pretend to be the nurse or doctor and explain what is happening. My daughter did this a lot with herself as the patient or her stuffed animals.