Distant Stars: Explaining Organ Donation to Children

Organ donation is the last gift given to you by the best friend you never met.

How do we talk about the hard stuff with our kids? We don’t get to avoid it. We don’t pretend it’s not happening and we can’t pretend it’s not affecting us. We shouldn’t expect them to understand when we don’t completely understand it ourselves. We’re parents, we want to protect our children from anything that might hurt.

And some things are going to hurt.

So how do we talk about the hard stuff?

We tell stories.

Distant Stars is the story one father tells his little girl as “the hard stuff” is happening down the hall in the hospital. Grandpa may be leaving, but there is a part of him that will be in our hearts forever and there are other parts that will help other people we don’t even know continue to see and hear and breathe and live.

Organ Donation is the last gift that we can give. So pull your little one into your lap and tell them a story.