Ironically, I had a sister-in-law and a friend in the same ICU unit of the same hospital last week. Each family handled things differently in respect to the kids.
In one family, the kids were afraid to visit and family was trying to encourage them to see their mother, and in the other case the kids were eager to visit and family was trying to discourage them from visiting.
I have never been in the hospital except to have my 3 boys, but I was trying to imagine how I would feel about my kids visiting or not visiting.
It's Feedback Friday...
If you were hospitalized would you want your kids to visit or do you think it would be more upsetting?
Rough week for you:( Hopefully both will have a speedy recovery. My kids are older, so I'd let them decide. If they were younger, I'd have to decide if it would be worse for them to not see me and imagine how bad I was or to actually see how bad I was. For me personally it is easier for me to deal with hard things, the more info I have.
ReplyDeleteWow no responses yet? I love your Feedbck Fridays! I guess it would all be determined as to why I was in the ICU. I am not one to hide things from my kids as I feel they need to live in the real world and accept things as they come. Sadly, not a lot of people are like that these days thus all the malfunctioning people in the world! Just my opinion!
ReplyDeleteSo I asked my 12-year old for his thoughts and he said, "I'd go, unless you were really gross, b/c I wouldn't want to accidently throw-up or something"
ReplyDeleteI agree with letting children choose depending on the situation. I remember my grandmother being in the ICU and the medication had caused her to gain almost 100 pounds in pure water weight. I (at 14) was able to process but my brother (at 10) was not able and it really freaked him out. It all depends on the reason and the children.
ReplyDeleteI think it depends on the situation. If its one where a recovery is expected, allowing the kids to see the patient might be a good thing. The imagination of kids can be worse than what they see.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, if recovery is not expected, it might be better to not allow kids in.
I think it really comes down to the maturity of the children and the way each family feels about it.