Children Understand More Than We Realize

Dr. Kenneth Lazarus is a pediatric oncologist from Indiana has a unique way of breaking the news of cancer to children. In his book "Conquering Kids' Cancer Triumphs and Tragedies of a Children's Cancer Doctor" he describes different ways of informing his patients and their families of this horrific news. He has found with the younger age groups it is easier to relate it to something they can wrap their minds around. He talked about one case with a young boy named Eric. He described cancer as bad aliens that had invaded his body, he then said that himself and the medicine were the good army going to take out the bad aliens.  This allowed Eric to see the point in his treatment and be involved fully. This also helped ease the reality of the situation and help the child to be brave during treatment. He also described that children understand about as much as their parents do about the disease it just has to be presented in a way that they can connect with.