The nurse is caring for a five-year-old who has leukemia and is now out of remission and not expected to survive. the child says to his mother, "will you take care of me when i am dead the way you do now?" the child’s mother asks the nurse how to answer her child. the nurse’s response should be based on which of the following understandings of the child’s behavior?

a. the child is denying that he has a terminal illness
b. the child may be hallucinating
c. children of this age do not understand the finality of death
d. most 5-yr-old children have a great fear of mutilation