When a family is dealing with a cancer diagnosis, children may need to take on extra responsibilities. If children feel they are being useful at this time, it can boost their self-esteem because it shows that you value and need them.
| Simple tasks for younger children | Young children can help with simple tasks like setting the table, vacuuming or feeding pets. |
| Engaging older children and teenagers | With older children and teenagers, it’s reasonable to want them to help more around the house and do tasks like making simple meals, cleaning the kitchen, and helping with laundry. |
| Balancing responsibilities and fairness | Try to share tasks fairly among all family members and avoid overloading teenagers with chores. Jobs that need to be done are not always obvious to older children, so discuss priorities and how tasks can be divided up. See below for a range of age-appropriate ways that children and teenagers can help. |
| Letting teenagers spend time with their friends | When asking teenagers to help, keep in mind that it is normal for them to spend time with their friends as well. |
Helping around the house
The internet is a good source of information about appropriate jobs around the house for children of all ages. Try searching for “age-appropriate chores”.
Some possibilities include:
 | Ages 2-4
|
 | Ages 4-8
|
 | Ages 8-12
|
 | Over 12
|
Reflect on what’s important
This can be a time to reflect on priorities and what really matters for your family. You might choose to let go of some household tasks that you previously thought were essential.
For more information about all aspects of cancer, listen to our podcast series, The Thing About Cancer and to the episode below.
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Joanna Fardell, Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director, The Behavioural Sciences Unit, School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine, UNSW, NSW; Dr Diana Adams, Medical Oncologist, Macarthur Cancer Therapy Centre and GenesisCare Campbelltown, NSW; Emma Bowne, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council SA; Ken Colbert, Consumer; Cara Dahl, Team Leader – Online Support, Cancer Hub, and ACA Registered Counsellor, NSW; Elizabeth Egan, Clinical Nurse Consultant – Oncology, St John of God Subiaco Hospital, WA; Dr Maria Ftanou, Director, Psychosocial Oncology Program, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC; Nat Fuss, Senior Clinician, Canteen, SA; Helena Hobson, Senior Social Worker, Cancer Centre, Fiona Stanley Hospital and South Metropolitan Health Service, WA; Nadine Macbeth, Social Work Team Leader, Cancer and Chronic Care, Westmead Hospital, NSW; Damian Ragusa, General Manager – Services and Programs, Camp Quality; The Team at Redkite; Alexandra Wright, Consumer.
We would also like to thank the health professionals, consumers, organisations and editorial teams who have worked on previous editions of this title, and we are grateful to the parents and young people whose real-life stories have added to the richness and relevance of this booklet.
We also thank and acknowledge Dr Paula K Rauch, American Cancer Society, Macmillan Cancer Support, Jessica Watt and Diane McGeachy for permission to use their work as source material.
View the Cancer Council NSW editorial policy.
