How do I tell my twin 7 year old children mommy is having gastric by-pass ? HELP

i have twins boy and girl who are very smart and always has lots of questions.  i don't want to tell them anything that will scare them or make them worry. so how and what should i tell them ?????

I personally would not tell them any more than I had to.  I would tell them you're having surgery to make you feel better and help your stomach.  I don't believe in telling young kids any more than the basics - no matter how smart they are.  Why give them any more information to ponder over and worry about?  But, that's just me and my opinion.  Good luck with your surgery.

  I have 9 grandbabies the oldest is 7 and he knows that I am having surgery on my belly to help me feel better. He seems fine with that . I know he worries about me even before he knew about my surgery. He has told me he worries about me dying because he see's me as an old granny lol . So kids at this age are already thinking about life and  death. Keep it short and simple . Let them know how much you love them.  Lynn

I agree that you should keep it simple. Just tell them the doctor will fix things inside so you will feel better. Do let them know to expect you to be in the hospital for a couple of days and that you will have to take it easy for a few days after you come home. But most important let them know you will still be able to read to them or whatever quiet time activities you normally do with them when you get home.

I would let them know that the Dr. wants you to have surgery to help you feel better and get healthy. Let them know that you will probably just have 6 'bandaids' from your surgery and your tummy will be sore. Let them know that you will be in the hospital overnight where the Dr's and Nurses will take great care of you and that afterwards you will be kind of tired and sore and you won't be able to eat very much for a while, but that is part of helping you to get better. I wouldn't go into details though. I have found with my children than if I give them a high level overview and then ask them if they have any questions, this works best. It's hard sometimes, but if you can just answer the question that they pose, without elaborating and then ask if they have anymore questions, it seems to help. This way I don't give them more information than they can process and yet I leave the door open for them to ask questions, because they will be curious and it's best to have you satisfy that curiousity than to have their imagination do it for them.

I hope that helps.

Barb

P.S. My twins are 26 ... How'd that  happen!?

Thanks to all your advice, it has been very helpful.

My oldest was 7 when I had surgery.  She is also very smart and full of questions.  I simply told her that I would be going into the hospital to help me loose weight.  She seemed to understand that.  I did tell her I was going to have surgery, but did not give any real details.  In my mind there was no reason to go into a great detail with her because it would only confuse and frustrate her.  :)

I agree with the keep it simple but honest approach.  You might also want to point out to them that you went to the hospital to have them (assuming you did) and look how great that came out!

My daughter was 7 when DH had his RNY and she was 8 when I had mine.  By the time I had mine, it was no big deal and she understood, but when DH had his, we just told her that he was going to have an operation to make his stomach smaller so he wouldn't each so much and he'd lose weight.  She was cool with that.  Congrats and good luck!