Balancing different needs of sick and healthy siblings

Mickey Guisewite, Parent With A Purpose, shares advice for parents on how to balance the needs of their healthy kids and seriously ill child
Pediatric Cancer Advice | Balancing Needs Of Sick And Healthy Siblings
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Balancing different needs of sick and healthy siblings

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It's almost impossible to be a mom for one child who's fighting for his life in the hospital and at the same time being a mom to a completely healthy 5-year old daughter. You want to be the best mom you can be for both kids, but their needs are so different. I mean, my child that was in the hospital, really it was almost like taking care of an infant. He needed 100% care. So what we found worked best in our family was that my husband and I would take shifts. My husband would often spend the night at the hospital with our son and during that time, I was with our daughter. And when I was at the hospital with my son during the day, I was there for him 100% of the time. But when I was at home with my daughter, I was there for her 100% of the time. And, you know, kids function on routine; they like normalcy. So I did my best to keep our family routines as normal as they could be. And I talked to my daughter quite about about our son's cancer. She was very upset and worried. But I also just tried to make sure that we had fun. I tried to do school pickup, I tried to go to her dance rehearsals, I tried to get to the park, I tried to make life as normal as I could for her.

Mickey Guisewite, Parent With A Purpose, shares advice for parents on how to balance the needs of their healthy kids and seriously ill child

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Mickey Guisewite

Parent with a Purpose

Mickey Guisewite is a former advertising executive and syndicated newspaper columnist who started The Bottomless Toy Chest after her son successfully completed cancer treatment. The Bottomless Toy Chest is a nonprofit organization devoted to delivering toys, crafts and hands-on activities to hospitalized pediatric cancer patients. Mickey lives at home with her husband, son, daughter, two dogs, two cats and two turtles. When she’s not delivering toys to sick kids, she’s at home trying to find a tiny space on the couch among her two-legged and four-legged family members. 

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Transcription: 
It's almost impossible to be a mom for one child who's fighting for his life in the hospital and at the same time being a mom to a completely healthy 5-year old daughter. You want to be the best mom you can be for both kids, but their needs are so different. I mean, my child that was in the hospital, really it was almost like taking care of an infant. He needed 100% care. So what we found worked best in our family was that my husband and I would take shifts. My husband would often spend the night at the hospital with our son and during that time, I was with our daughter. And when I was at the hospital with my son during the day, I was there for him 100% of the time. But when I was at home with my daughter, I was there for her 100% of the time. And, you know, kids function on routine; they like normalcy. So I did my best to keep our family routines as normal as they could be. And I talked to my daughter quite about about our son's cancer. She was very upset and worried. But I also just tried to make sure that we had fun. I tried to do school pickup, I tried to go to her dance rehearsals, I tried to get to the park, I tried to make life as normal as I could for her.