Coping with Chronic Illnesses

There is an added difficulty to parenting when your child has a chronic illness. A chronic illness is one that lasts for a long time, sometimes even for life. Examples of this type of illness include all forms of cancer, diabetes, and asthma. Stress and uncertainity about health issues regarding your child consume your daily life when you are a parent of a sick kid.

I found two websites that had some good tips for parents of ill children. Below is a simplified list of the tips they discussed. For more information, follow the links.

After the Diagnosis
-keep positive, learn about your child's illness, explain it to the child, find other parents and children going through the same thing

To Help Your Child
-communicate with them, give them choices, support their activities with peers, give them responsibilities, be mindful of what the child can overhear, look for role models

Helping the Family Cope
-have a routine and stick to it, keep communication going between all family members, remember your other children

Taking Care of Yourself
-take time off to yourself, make you use of people willing to help, take use of respite care

Works Cited:
Zolten, Kristen. "Coping with chronic illness." Center for Effective Parenting | Arkansas Parenting | Parent Resources. 1997. 16 July 2009 http://www.parenting-ed.org/handout3/Specific%20Concerns%20and%20Problems/coping%20with%20chronic%20illness.htm.

Churchill, Melanie. "Chronic Illness among Children." Forever Families. 16 July 2009 http://www.foreverfamilies.net/xml/articles/children_with_chronic_illness.aspx.