The siblings of a sick child often do not fully understand the situation, they are not privy to what is happening, because the parents do not want to stress them further. Then they feel lost.

 

When the parents' attention is focused on a sick child, they may feel jealous, withdrawn and rejected. They may feel remorse - maybe if they hadn't yelled at brother so often, he wouldn't have fallen ill? If they hadn't scared the sister so often, maybe she would have been well? They don't want to share their problems with their parents, after all, they already have enough worries.

 

They can minimize their difficulties - what are troubles at school compared to treatment in hospital? They try to become invisible so as not to disturb their parents and sick siblings in any way with their own presence.

 

And some children react the opposite - they grow angry that no one is taking care of them, they become rude, noisy and embarrassing to get their parents' attention. Left to themselves, they can lose themselves in negative emotions, helplessness, confusion, fear, they can diminish their importance or increase aggressive or risky behavior - this is how they shout: notice me!

At the meeting with the psychologist, they can feel again that their emotions and experiences are equally important.