Conversation with children about Hep C...maybe redundent?

[sfbaygirl]

Redu: Last night I had an interesting exchange with my six year old grandson. He has been worried about sharing water out of my water bottle. I respected his view and didn’t share at all.  I put the four and six y/o to bed last night. AJ asked me out of the blue (during one of those precious bedtime talks) if he could catch hep c from me. I hadn’t tripped on him not drinking the water before, but mentioned that it was very unlikely to catch it through drinking out of my water bottle. Especially now that I am UND <5 IU  I began explaining to him that it is blood to blood contact that causes it to be passed from one person to another. He was intrigued. I asked him if he knew what blood brothers were and he did. Then I explained that this is how Hep C is transmitted. Blood to blood. I told him about how unsafe it was to be blood brothers. Also I told him other means (age appropriate) like sharing toothbrushes and taking care of your bloody bandages. He was extremely curious about this and I expounded on means of transmission. AJ is very athletic and gets cuts and bruises all the time, as does the four y/o. After the many, many age appropriate questions I was impressed at the level of understanding and the amazing grasp of children to understand such concepts.

My son (after telling him the converstation) immediately wanted to know who told him about being infected by water.  We think it may be some very dum other relative who knows nothing.

My son’s father died of AID’s in the early 90’s and he shared food and drinks with his children as he was dying.

[sfbaygirl]

. There is so much misconception about how Hep C, or any Hep for that matter,  that starting with the children for awareness makes sense to me. Even my son wasn’t sure of all the means of transmission. He says “ no worries” when it comes to his own testing for Hep C. Anyway, I informed the grandkids and son about how it can be passed….razors, toothbrushes etc. and told my son NOT to share with his own children, at LEAST until he was tested. Thought I would share…. and any discussion about this issue is necessary and important in our day and age. Happy New Years everyone!

[goldyn]

You hit the trigger point with telling him about blood brothers, I think your right teaching our kids blood saftey  is of importance, esp. since we are the perfect role model of what can happen,my 9 year old understands Im very open with all thier questions , and i think they need  to be reassured that sharing drinks and food will not spread the virus ....
Sounds like you have a sweet son and grandkids....

[Kalio1]

Aw, he sounds like an angel. They are so smart, Im sure it was really good you guys had a big talk about it. Maybe the not drinking off your water thing is just an association he made on his own from remembering past colds or flus and knowing not to share drinks with others when you are sick? I agree it could also be a dumb relative's input, but maybe he put that together on his own, he sure sounds smart enough.

Hope you had a nice Christmas and a very Happy New Year! My server screwed up email and sent a letter saying they would be "working on it" and they said they weren't sure if I got all my email nor if my sent mail was delivered correctly so dont know if you got my email. What a mess!
Hope you are hanging in there!

[prettydamscared]

Thanks for sharing that. Happy New Year to you too!

[orphanedhawk]

Now I'm in tears. You are so fortunate to have those little kids in your life. All I have is grandpuppies. Pitbulls.

[shastri20032003]

I have contacted hep c a few months ago and was totally at sea about how it spread...so was overcautious and informed my 8 and 10 year old kids to avoid sharing water and food from me

Now, a few months down the road,with a bit of research and a little more wiser,I still avoid sharing food and water with them....for the simple reason that with all the existing treatments....homo sapiens dont seem to be on top of this disease and the uncertainity factor remains

have explained the basics to the kids...but still being careful...better safe than sorry
hope I am doing the right thing!
My friend...Happy New Year to all of you!
Best Wishes
Shastri

[aiuta]

What a beautiful and heartwarming story!  Thank you for sharing it with us.  When I was AJ's age, my Grandma was so important to me.  When she died, my Dad had to pull me away from the casket.  Certain grandparents can have a HUGE impact on their grandchildren's lives and it sounds like you could be one of those.  Plus, the way you are explaining transmission of the illness is clever, creative and COOL!  AJ is a lucky child.  Thanks for brightening our world and my day.  All my best, Aiuta

[shastri20032003]

seems like I have been explaining it the wrong way to the kids...
should follow it your way...need to correct it

[Lady E]

Awwww...I loved the way that you handled the conversation with your grandson. Well done with the blood-brothers scenario.

He is now one well informed 6 year old. I think the world needs more grammas like you.

Happy New Year!
-E

[LindyK]

shastri20032003

I have an 11 year old daughter and she is a worrier.  Her major concern was that I would die.  I tried to give her as much factual information as I could.  She is very bright and now seems to be OK with everything.  She even enjoys me reading some of the posts to her.  She loves the Friday Night fight songs and will sing them to me.  She even tries to make up her own songs.  One thing that was helpful to her was getting her hooked up with another 11 year old daughter of someone who posts on the board.  They e-mail each other and most of their conversation is not about Hep C but about their everyday lives.  I think it has helped her to know that other kids are going through the same thing with their parent.

SF - I posted about sharing food and drink with my grandson a while back and you and many others gave me great responses.  For those who did not see that post, my son wanted to know if there was ANY way I could infect my 2 yr old grandson by sharing eating utensils or drinks.  Evidently my daughter-in-law was concerned but didn't want to bring it up because she thought it might hurt my feelings.  Anyway, I told my son no, it was OK but then I thought about bleeding gums and told him about that.  I don't have that problem but one never knows.  So I told him that even though the chances were probably 0 that to make he and his wife feel more comfortable I would not share with my grandson.  It's really no big deal to me - I just have to pay attention.  I then talked to my daughter-in-law privately and told her that any question she had would not hurt my feelings.  I had printed out all the responses I got on this post and some other factual information about modes of transmission.  I gave those to her and told her that the information was to make her feel better about the past 2 years and my decision to not share with my grandson in the future.  That was it.  No big drama.  They are very supportive of me but concerned, of course, for their children (I also have a 2 month old grandaughter).  I figure I can do this small thing to give them peace of mind.

Being a Grandma is GREAT!

[sfbaygirl]

I remember your thread Linda, and my response and others. Perhaps I am not cautious enough, but I feel that I most likely could be hit by a car than pass my virus on to my grandkids from my water bottle. If my gums or lips were bleeding, yes, I would tell them not to use my bottle for those reasons. Kids are smart, they pick things up so much more quickly than we do. Of course, we need to respect their fears and not feel bad when they are "scared" of us. All we can do is give them the facts and let them learn along the way. As UND <5 there is virtually no way even a bleeding (Maybe) gum would get on my water bottle and pass it on to them. Who am I to tell AJ he has to do it? I wouldn't, just as I wouldn't tell my granddaughter that she absolutely can't drink out of it. Perhaps if the kids are older and can know and learn themselves about the transmission of this virus and were paranoid...I think I would have to wonder why. Yes, there are germ freaks etc. But geez, does anyone use public restrooms at ballgames, malls, nail salons etc? These seem more dubious than drinking from my water.

If my kids were scared for their children, I quess I would have to educate them as best I could. If they were open and only scared of this remote possiblity, I would respect that and not share water, not making. I just dont' want my grandkids to be scared of me. I know the routes of transmission and would protect them to the end of time! We can all be OCD and be so afraid of germs etc, that we wash and dont' go places that are potential dirty places, but it seems we would miss alot in life, if this were the way we lived. We all take risks everyday, how far do we go? Do we want to stir up the fear AIDS epidemic with our so careful warnings? People wouldn't even shake hands with someone HIV, is this where we want to be?

[friole]

You did well.  YOu spoke to your grandson on a level he could understand.  I think little bits of information go a longer way than long lectures - to anyone.  Happy New Year
frijol

[shastri20032003]

Coincidently that was the same worry of my daughter until I explained to her about the basics of Hep c

And we do give the young ones less credit than they deserve for their understanding power

thanks for yr suggestion....seems a nice one
Happy New Year!


shastri20032003

I have an 11 year old daughter and she is a worrier. Her major concern was that I would die. I tried to give her as much factual information as I could. She is very bright and now seems to be OK with everything. She even enjoys me reading some of the posts to her. She loves the Friday Night fight songs and will sing them to me. She even tries to make up her own songs. One thing that was helpful to her was getting her hooked up with another 11 year old daughter of someone who posts on the board. They e-mail each other and most of their conversation is not about Hep C but about their everyday lives. I think it has helped her to know that other kids are going through the same thing with their parent.

[LindyK]

I agree with you whole heartedly.  Since my grandson is only 2 it doesn't freak him out.  Instead of taking a bite of his sandwich, I ask him to tear off a bite when he wants to share his food - he thinks its cool to do that.  As far as drinks I just tell him it's mine just as I do when I'm drinking something hot.  Then I get him his own drink.  You have to deal with children at whatever level is age appropriate.  This is just for the comfort level of my son and daughter-in-law.  That has been their only concern.  I still play, kiss, hug and babysit the children as often as I can steal them away!

[ladybug52]

Thanks for sharing. It'll be awhile before I can talk to Taylor since she's only 4 months, but hopefully I'll be svr and not have to talk the talk. Question: Even if we reach svr do we continue to use precautions with blood products toothbrushes and razors?
Thanks,
Janice