Set the Tone

• 1). When you sit down to explain asthma to your child, take an open, honest and positive approach. It is essential that your child feels comfortable and safe discussing the condition with you and other caregivers.
  
  Asthma can be a very frightening experience for children and their siblings. Your initial discussions can go a long way toward easing their fears. When children sense that their parents are afraid, they become fearful too. Don't avoid using the word "asthma," as this will only stigmatize the condition and confuse the situation.
  
  
• 2). Stress the fact that many children have asthma and are able to take part in most popular childhood activities. Tell your child it's likely he has friends who have asthma and are living healthy, normal lives.
  
  
• 3). Explain that every person is different and that these differences make every person unique. In the animal kingdom, fish breathe differently than birds. Some animals, like whales, can go a long time holding their breath. Others can't do that. There is no "right" way to breathe; there are just "different" ways.
  
  

Describe Asthma

• 1). Using a balloon and straw can be useful in illustrating how our lungs work, particularly with younger children. For children who have been taught about the human body in school, these visual aides may not be necessary.
  
  
• 2). Inhale and exhale into the balloon so that it inflates and deflates. Explain that this is similar to the way her lungs work.
  
  
• 3). Attach the balloon to the straw. Tell her that air travels through tubes called "bronchi" as it fills our lungs. Inflate the balloon by blowing air through the straw. Let the balloon deflate, noting to your child that the air came back out through the straw.
  
  
• 4). Tell him that asthma sometimes causes his bronchi to get narrower and this makes it more difficult for the air to get in and out. To illustrate this, pinch the straw and blow air into the balloon. Next, let the air out of the balloon while you keep the straw pinched.
  
  Point out to him that it took longer to inflate the balloon when the straw was pinched and longer for the air to get out of the balloon when the straw was pinched. When the straw is pinched, there was also more noise as the air moves out of the balloon.
  
  
• 5). Connect this idea with your child's asthma condition, saying that asthma is like when the straw was pinched; it takes air longer to move in and out of the lungs and breathing is noisier.
  
  Tell her that the treatment the doctor has prescribed will "unpinch" her bronchi tubes and let the air go in and out more easily.