How to Talk to Children About Cancer

Catherine, Princess of Wales, has been diagnosed with cancer and has started preventative chemotherapy, she announced in a video message on Friday.

“It has been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family,” Catherine said in the video. She said that it has taken time to recover from surgery to start treatment for her cancer. “But, most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be OK,” she added.

Conversations like those that Catherine has had with her children are among some of the more important and delicate discussions that parents can have, according to Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a professor of psychology at Temple University and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Children, especially younger children, consider their parents a steady rock, she said. If something disrupts that stability — “even if it’s a manageable cancer — to a child’s ears, wow, that is scary.”

Dr. Hirsh-Pasek recommended explaining that “there are going to be times when Mom doesn’t feel as good as other times, but she is going to be there for you, and she is going to be around.”

But, she clarified, “I’m not saying you lie.” Children are highly observant, Dr. Hirsh-Pasek said. “If you hide something, kids know you are hiding something.”