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PSYCHO – Disease, death: children need to be informed with words adapted to their level of understanding, otherwise they risk developing deep inner turmoil.
As adults, when one of our parents is very ill, a significant question arises among the various difficulties and emotions that overwhelm us: how to approach the possibility of their imminent death with our own children, especially if they are still very young? According to Patrick Ben Soussan, child psychiatrist and author of « The Art of Raising Imperfect Children » (Érès), « the dialogue about old age and death should take place well in advance, thanks to children’s literature or sequences from cartoons. » If this step has not yet been taken, it is never too late to start it, « because when a parent is about to die, we find ourselves as small children and we are not always in a condition to talk about it calmly. »
In any case, it is out of the question to remain silent about the grandparent’s illness in the hope that our children will ask us about it themselves. Firstly, « because children quickly understand if they can talk about something or not. »
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