How to Cope when a Child Has a Chronic or Complex Health Condition

Looking after a child with a chronic or complex health condition takes time and energy. This resource centre contains tips and tools to help you manage stress, look after yourself and your family, and help your child cope with being in hospital. You’ll also find advice to help you communicate with your child’s health care team and with schools and other caregivers.

Coping with illness as a family

Having a sick child is hard for the whole family. Parents feel stressed out and pressed for time; siblings may feel anxious, guilty, or left out. Coping with illness as a family means taking care of yourself, eating right, and building a good support network. That way, you’ll be better able to take care of your child and the rest of your family.

• Coping with your child's illness as a parent
• Caring for a sick child: Sharing the responsibility
• Getting help when your child is in hospital
• Helping children cope with a sibling's illness
• Healthy eating when your child is ill
• Personal story: How I learned to stop being super-mommy and ask for help
• Personal story: Long-term, long-distance treatment

Helping your child cope with illness

Illness and hospital stays are hard for children of any age. Children may be bored, confused, afraid, or in pain. Luckily, there are many things parents can do to make things a little better. This section has information and tools to help you help your child cope with illness and treatment.

• Sick children in hospital: How to help, what to do
• Playtime at the hospital
• Talking to your child about illness
• Coping styles in children
• Behaviour changes in sick children
• Blood work: Helping your child get ready
• Surgery: Talking to your child
• How to talk to kids about their pain
• Staying at the hospital: advice for teens
• Child life specialists can help your child

Advocating for your child

Clear communication about your child’s needs is essential to making sure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to your child’s care. Every child’s situation is different, but you can use the information in this section to help you talk to your child’s doctors, nurses, and teachers.

To better advocate for your child, it helps to be well informed about your child’s illness. Learn more in our Health A-Z and Resource Centres, learn about the body in How the Body Works, and use our step by step guides to home health care for children to show other caregivers how to care for your child.

• Talking with the doctor about your child
• Talking with your child’s school
• Building a support network
• Communicating with others about your child’s needs

Financial and community support

A serious illness in the family often comes with many unexpected costs, from medical supplies to transportation and hotel stays. Your family may be eligible for government support, tax breaks, community health services, or charitable help. A social worker can help you find resources to help your child. 

• Federal tax breaks for children with disabilities in Canada
• Support for parents of children with disabilities in Ontario
• Strategies for finding community health services
• Types of community health services
• Social workers can help you cope with illness

Chronic and complex care videos

Living with Leukemia	Childhood Leukemia: A Survivor's Story	Introducing Chronic Complex Care	Taming Your Hospital Stay