The kids, while enjoying our first "snowfall," are having good conversations with us around cancer and we are doing as much processing as possible to be sure we are inside what they are thinking.
Madeline, 4 years old, will simply sit beside me and start asking questions and processing out loud with me the details and the main narrative to be sure she has it right.
"Mommy, you are sick because the pills you take are fighting the bad guys in your body. We are going to beat the bad guys up and they are never going to come back again!"
"Are the bad guys going to come into my body?"
"Can I give you hugs to make you feel better?"
"When are you going to get a wig?"
Last night, Matthew and I got out our paper and did some graphs and drawing with Ethan and Ben. We have found that one of the quickest ways inside what the boys are thinking is to give them some tools to process what is going on visually. We were graphing the cycles of chemo and how I would probably be feeling and before we know it they are both drawing graphs about how they are up and down, their successes and failures in making friends, how school is going, etc.
3 comments:
Kudos to you both for the patience and energy you are reserving for your kids, helping them process things on their terms and in their way. These conversations are golden.
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I appreciate the update Sara Jane, if any parents can help children process what is happening it is you and Matthew. Love all of you.
Thanks for the journal SJ. It helps someone on the other side of the globe enter a bit of your space and its reality.
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