How to Teach Kids About Organ Donation

You may have trouble presenting organ donation to your child. Many people think of organ donation as a helpful scientific tool, while others think that organ donation goes against their religious beliefs. Either way, informing your child in a fair and rational manner helps calm your child and provide him with detailed information.

Instructions

• 1

  Prepare yourself on how you want to present the subject to your child. Gerry Koocher, Ph.D., from K.S.Pope, suggests focusing on answering questions and explaining things simply, without the shock of unneeded information. For example, according to Dr. Koocher, you do not need to explain that a person needing organ transplants died because he drank too much alcohol every day. Instead, explain your existential reason why the person died, whether that reason is religious or secular.

• 2

  Print out the coloring book from Kids Kare. It provides a story about Peter Pod, Farmer Sickly and Dr. Healthy. Peter Pod needs a new "kidney bean" from Dr. Healthy. Although the coloring book provides useful information to imaginative children, it may affect children in need of transplants negatively; the story seems to suggest that Peter Pod's kidney bean problems come from an outside source. To assuage this worry, explain to the your children the Farmer Sickly is the whole body, while Peter Pod is the kidneys themselves.

• 3

  Explain the various reasons a person may want and not want to donate organs.

• 4

  Listen for any myths your child may have heard about organ donation. Use the Mayo Clinic's explanation of the various myths to dispel those that might interfere with your child's ability to form a balanced opinion about organ donation.

• 5

  Answer all of the child's questions in an unbiased, straightforward and clear way. Organ donation, though it affects children, is an adult decision. To better know how to answer questions, you may want to print out frequently asked questions from websites about organ donation, such as Organ Donation Information.

• 6

  Print and sign donor cards from OrganDonor.gov, if you or your child wants to become an organ donor. Remember, your child can only approve organ donation with your signature, so if you do not approve of organ donation for any reason, explain why to your child and also explain that she can make the choice about organ donation when she turns 18.