How to talk to kids about illness

The only thing harder than being a parent is — well, not much, I would imagine. Considering you’re creating and nurturing a whole new person. There’s no guidebook on ‘how not to screw up your kids’. And even if there are iterations of it, no one can really predict the situations and specific tantrums that feel like they were purposefully designed for your amusement, and annoyance.

In our ‘How to talk to kids’ series, we ask the mommies and daddies that have been there, done that, to share their stories. Whether you remember her as the effervescent Seema in the otherwise intense Sarfarosh, or have been following her transparent battle with cancer since she was diagnosed in July 2018  — Sonali Bendre Behl remains the eternal sunshine girl.

When faced with the heart-wrenching task of sharing the news of her diagnosis with her teenage son, Ranveer, Behl’s modus operandi was being open, transparent and keeping things simple — “With a boy, it’s sometimes hard for them to open up, and if he’s talking and hugging you — that’s good news. But if he’s bottling things up, or getting angry, then there are things you need to address,” the actor cautions. The key is to maintain a positive attitude while communicating, because the child picks up on your energy. So try taking the Sonali Bendre Behl-route and switch on the sunshine in your life, even in the darkest of times.