If you have young grandchildren, you are probably aware that their most used word is “Why?”
We learn more in our first five years of life than everything that comes after.
It is natural for young children to be inquisitive about almost everything.
They also believe everything they are told, so be careful if you are trying to be humorous so that you don’t stray too far from the truth.
Young children will also be quick to notice differences between you and their parents, especially around the effects of ageing.
“Why does your face have all these wrinkles?” “It’s because I am always smiling.”
“Why do you walk funny?” “It’s an old sporting injury where I hurt my hip.”
And so on.
If you are a grandparent living with hearing loss and make use of hearing aids, you should also expect some questions like, “What’s that funny thing you are sticking in your ears?” And “Mommy tells me I should never stick things in my ears or up my nose, how come you’re allowed to?”
So, what do you say to your grandchild when they ask about your hearing aids?
How do you tell your grandchildren about your hearing loss?
Table of Contents
Tips to Explain Grandparents’ Hearing Loss to Young Children
These questions are best answered honestly.
Tip 1
Simply tell them that you used to be able to hear just as well as they can, but as you got older, you sometimes didn’t hear what people were saying to you.
You have a story to tell about working around noisy machinery and not wearing earplugs as a more specific cause of your hearing loss.
Then again, your hearing loss might have been caused by something like a health issue.
So again, explain that you got sick and while the rest of your body got better your hearing didn’t.
Tip 2
The grandchild may have difficulty understanding what hearing loss is, so give them a couple of examples.
You could ask them to put their hands tightly over their ears and then speak to them.
Take their hands off their ears and speak again.
Tell the child that your hearing is like you are holding your hands over your ears all the time.
Tip 3
Another example is to turn on a television.
Start with the volume on at a ‘normal’ listening level, then turn the volume down low and tell them that is how it sounds to you without your hearing aids.
Then turn the volume up to the highest level.
Tell the child that without your hearing aids, you would need to have the volume on the television that loud all the time.
Tip 4
Take your hearing aids out and have your grandchild stand behind you and speak to you.
Then turn around and explain that without your hearing aids, you couldn’t hear what they were saying to you.
Safety and Precautions for Young Children
Show your grandchild how you put your hearing aids into your ears, and you could tell them that they are made specially to fit your ears only.
That might not be entirely true, but remember, children are inquisitive, and if they see your hearing aids within easy reach, they could easily be tempted to try them on, then after a few minutes lose interest and before you know it, one of your hearing aids has disappeared, probably buried at the bottom of some toy container!
Letting them know the hearing aid only fits and works properly in your ears may curb that curiosity.
Telling a young child your hearing aids are expensive and will cost a lot of money to replace if they were damaged will not mean much to them when they did find an opportunity to play with them.
Instead, if you explain that if you lost one of your hearing aids or they got damaged, it would mean you would have trouble hearing and might not be able to hear them speaking to you.
Many hearing aids are ridiculously small, and we all know about keeping small objects out of reach of children.
They tend to taste and swallow small items or see if they fit inside their ears or noses.
The batteries used in hearing aids can be extremely dangerous if swallowed. The batter acid can do severe damage to internal organs.
Swallowed batteries burn through a child’s esophagus in just 2 hours.
Surgery will then be needed, and should they survive, the child will spend months with feeding and breathing tubes.
Make sure you keep your hearing aids and batteries somewhere that a young child is unable to reach or unlikely to find.
Summary
Hearing loss is not something that young children can easily understand, but there are some quick and easy examples on how to Explain Grandparents’ Hearing Loss to Young Children.
At the same time, you need to discourage children from thinking your hearing aids might be a new toy.
As well as being expensive to replace if damaged or lost, they can also be life-threatening if a young child swallows or inserts the hearing aids or their batteries into their mouth, nose or ears.
