halfin
Senior member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2009
- Messages
- 540
- Reason
- PALS
- Diagnosis
- 08/2009
- Country
- US
- State
- CA
- City
- Santa Barbara
My wife has been listening to the Dr. Laura Schlessinger radio show this afternoon, and I just heard a guy call in who had ALS. It's funny how your attention can be grabbed when you hear something interesting - I was working in the other room and completely ignoring the radio, but when I heard her spelling out ALS I suddenly noticed what she was saying.
The caller was a guy who had been diagnosed recently, and was wondering how much to tell his younger son, who was 14. Dr. Laura basically said that was old enough to know the whole story, which sounds right to me. She suggested too that it is easier for kids to handle news like this if you give them things to do to help out the family. This way they can feel like everything is not out of their control, that they are making a contribution and sharing the burden.
My instinct, similar to the guy on the radio, has been to protect my kids (although they are in their 20s) and try to insulate them from worrying about what will happen. I see people here who react the same way, wanting to give their kids and their family as normal an upbringing as possible. But maybe that is wrong. Maybe it is better to ask them to help, even to make sacrifices. Psychologically it might make it easier to deal with the bad news.
The caller was a guy who had been diagnosed recently, and was wondering how much to tell his younger son, who was 14. Dr. Laura basically said that was old enough to know the whole story, which sounds right to me. She suggested too that it is easier for kids to handle news like this if you give them things to do to help out the family. This way they can feel like everything is not out of their control, that they are making a contribution and sharing the burden.
My instinct, similar to the guy on the radio, has been to protect my kids (although they are in their 20s) and try to insulate them from worrying about what will happen. I see people here who react the same way, wanting to give their kids and their family as normal an upbringing as possible. But maybe that is wrong. Maybe it is better to ask them to help, even to make sacrifices. Psychologically it might make it easier to deal with the bad news.