Self-Care for Children with Cancer

People have their buckets full of many things, so when it comes to self-care they have less time. And it is even more difficult when it comes to life-changing diseases like cancer. Taking care of oneself is more challenging during a taxing time. Cancer is not just having surgery, radiation, or chemo. It takes courage and real effort to face this disease. Self-care is vital for every person and particularly for children dealing with cancer.

To obtain relief from an overwhelming disease like cancer self-care is necessary.

Cancer is a chronic health problem and it impacts children in many ways. Cancer cannot only impact the physical but mental, spiritual, and emotional health of children. While in the treatment of cancer primary focus is maybe on physical alteration that is caused with the treatment of cancer.

Children with cancer need to take steps to deal with physical and mental health challenges. Self-care is important and can help to cope with the emotional roller coaster children experience during cancer treatment.

Healthy Diet

Make sure to take fruits and vegetables at each meal. Ask your child to select what he wants to eat so they feel involved. Make a list of the favorite food of your child. Read and share the health benefits of veggies and fruits and ask them to include them in their everyday meal which is good for cancer.

Exercise

Previous researches showed that doctors suggested reduce activity and rest for chronic disease. Conversely, recent studies explored exercise as healthy and can improve the immunity of cancer patients. It is also helpful for well being of children with cancer. Being active is beneficial for cancer patients. Exercise can help to reduce fatigue and keeps you fresh.

Basic Skills

Learning basic skills is important for everyone. From diet to personal hygiene, a child can start these basic skills at an early age. Let your child know that basic skills keep us healthy and safe. Eating healthy food, take bath, brushing teeth, wearing neat clothes are everything we need to move in on a healthy track. When you eat healthily and wear clean clothes it gives you a sense of accomplishment and in return, you feel good about yourself. Although these may not appear like massive self-care habits, they are some of the most imperative and they show your kid that you have to take care of physically to keep yourself healthy.

Here is checklist for basic and functional life skills for children

Stress Management

Cancer is one of the most traumatic experiences of anyone’s life. And when you are a child and coping with cancer is a somewhat more challenging thing. Considering your stressors and looking for ways to deal with them is more important for the wellness and mental health of cancer patients.

Here are some tips and tricks to deal with your stress while battling cancer:

Listen: hearing out to people who already fought with cancer can be very helpful. You can listen to their perspectives and how they dealt with this chronic disease to adapt some of their ways.
Recognize: acknowledgment of a problem or a stressor is the first step towards growth. Seeking help from a loved one can be a plus point towards recovery. Know that how you can get help and when you need it the most.

Everyone is coping with the stressors but how they are doing it is important. When battling a life-threatening disease active coping is the only healthy way to adapt. Active coping is the mindset a cancer patient needs.

Family and Social Support

A strong support system is a basic key to a healthy body and mind for cancer patients. Support from family and friends provides camaraderie, normalcy, and understanding. Researchers mentioned that cancer patients need support and love and their main needs comprised compassion, understanding, support and they need to be treated the same as usual.

Give Downtime

There is no harm in doing nothing on the days you don’t want to do anything. Having downtime is good and sometimes all you need is to just sit and relax. Best self-care practice is sometimes called doing nothing at all. Take breaks and cuddle with your favorite person for a few minutes. Downtime can be very helpful and it allows you to sit with yourself.

Family Time

Spend time with your family and do some fun activities. Make it a routine to have quality time with your parents and siblings. Share your feelings with them it will help you to channelize your energies in healthy and positive ways. It is the best self-care habit and it also allows you to bond with your family. Getting family time and knowing about each other allows you to understand that you have a great support system and it gives you the sense of being loved. A mother’s voice is very healing for a child, so when you sit and talk with your parents especially with your mother it heals.

Outdoor Time

Getting and spending time outside and doing outdoor activities is a part of the self-care routine. Outdoor activities are refreshing. Have a strong connection with nature and helps you to enjoy and explore nature. Make a major part of your life to get outdoor time. It will help you grow on a different level because when you go outside you connect with nature. Nature has a healing effect and it creates positive emotions which are necessary for your immunity. When you go outside you get time to look around your surroundings. You see birds, rivers, mountains, and trees. You connect with other people and when you interact with even strangers it allows you to think about other things than cancer.

Having a stable self-care routine is very beneficial. It helps you to get off cancer thoughts. A self-care routine reduces, anxiety, depression and makes you healthy. Eating healthy food, doing exercise, and having outdoor activities also having support from friends and family helps you to fight cancer like a warrior. Cancer is a chronic disease but that doesn’t mean you don’t have a right to live a normal life. A self-care routine helps you to improve your mood, self-confidence, and health.