Background: Many children live with parents with mental illness. Those children are in a vulnerable position, because they are dependent on the parents' care. These parents often fail in their parenting role and the child's development can be affected. Because of this, it is important that nurses takes initiatives to treat these children.

Aim: The purpose of this study is to illuminate children's experiences of living with a parent with mental illness.

Method: A literature study based on using and analysing fifteen qualitative articles.

Results: The results summarized in four main themes. The first theme was: To experience emotional conflicts, with three subthemes which were: feeling different, feeling shame and feeling of guilt. The second theme was: The feelings of living in uncertainty, with three subthemes: the feeling of fear, feeling of concern and the experience of frustration. The third theme was: The feeling of abandonment, with two subthemes: the experience of loneliness and the feeling of sadness. The fourth theme was: The experience of happiness, with three subthemes: the feeling of belongingness, the experience of joy and love, and the experience of relief. The results showed that children of parents with mental illness experience varying feelings about living with a parent with mental illness.

Conclusion: The results showed that children do not always understand the parents mental illness, which made them feel varying feelings, but they express a wish to understand. Because when there was an understanding of mental illness, they felt a sense of relief. This information may be useful for nurses when they meet children of a parent with mental illness.