Scripts, guides & research — all in one place.

Every download is built with parents, child psychologists, and medical professionals. Use what helps. Share what serves. All free, forever.

Start with a script.

Hospitalization checklist

Items to bring, key medical information, contacts, and what to do if you’re admitted unexpectedly.

Help your family handle a hospitalization

A 5-step script to prepare 2–3 trusted adults for stepping in during an unexpected stay.

Talk to teachers, coaches & caregivers

A short, fact-based script for explaining your condition and the plan for your child.

Talk to your child about your condition

A 5-step framework adapted for kids of every age — from preschoolers to teenagers.

A review of ten studies on parenting with a chronic condition or disability.

The studies below investigate many aspects of parenting with a chronic illness or disability. Three themes emerge again and again:

Whole-family care

Medical professionals should take a whole-family approach to support parents with a chronic illness or disability — yet such services are rarely in place.

Talking with children

Parents are often concerned about how to talk about their illness or disability with their children and help them adjust.

Kids can thrive

Having a parent with a chronic condition doesn’t necessarily impact children, especially when there is close emotional connection and open communication.

Ten papers, plainly summarized.

Feb 2026 · Contemporary Issues in Cardiology Practice

Parenting Under Pressure: The Hidden Burdens of Early-Onset Cardiovascular Disease

Goal: Assess the emotional and practical impact early-onset ischemic heart disease has on families.

Key finding: Parents’ top concerns were communicating their diagnosis, fulfilling their parenting role, and their children’s physical, emotional, and social adjustment.

Nov 2025 · Disability and Rehabilitation

How do parents who live with chronic disease experience accessing formal parenting supports?

Goal: Examine the existing research on parents living with chronic conditions and what kind of access they have to formal parenting supports.

Key finding: Despite the significant impact of chronic disease on parents, there are very few formal supports for parents living with chronic disease.

Nov 2024 · Pediatric Mental Health

Caring Under Pressure: Investigating Parental Attitudes in Mother–Child Chronic Illness Dynamics

Goal: Investigate the impact on parenting when a mother and her child share the same chronic illness.

Key finding: When both mother and child have a chronic illness, mothers tend to be more overprotective; in other pairings, more permissive attitudes appeared.

Dec 2021 · Psychological Therapy and Psychosomatics

Parental Chronic Illness, Internalizing Problems in Young Adulthood and the Mediating Role of Adolescent Attachment

Goal: Investigate whether adolescent children of parents with chronic illness show behavioural problems and whether attachment helps.

Key finding: Strong connections to both parents in adolescence protected young people from later anxiety and depression.

Oct 2015 · Review of Disability Studies

Parental Chronic Illness: Current Limitations and Considerations for Future Research

Goal: Identify the limitations in current research on the families of parents with a chronic illness or disability.

Key finding: The research is contradictory; better methodology is needed including diverse demographics and direct accounts from each family member.

Three things we never compromise on.

Explain why their parent is in the hospital — what happened, when they'll be home, and reassurance.
Say what treatment their parent is getting and that it's working.
Help the child picture their parent safe — meals, rest, nurses checking in.
Tell the child how the hospitalization will affect them — school, pickups, routines.
End by going over next steps — calls, visits, and what to do tonight.

Questions, answered

For trainings, foundation partnerships, podcast appearances, and press inquiries — email Hilary directly. She typically responds within a few days.

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