Families Dealing with Feelings: How to Handle GRIEF

DISCLAIMER: The topics discussed in this podcast should be considered a matter of personal opinion. They do not reflect professional advice. If you or your child is in need of mental health counseling support, please search out a licensed counselor.

In young children grief can look like many things – to name a few there can be:

• Crying
• Worry
• Sulking
• Clinginess
• Avoidance
• Ambivalence
• Anger
• Flat Affect, or lack of reaction to emotional stimuli
• Questioning
• Fear
• Acting out
• Sorrow
• Shame
• Confusion

Grief is not linear. Both in children and adults – the journey of grief has many ups and downs.

Often when we think of grief we assume loss or death.

It can be tricky to know how to help kids grieve but I think it is important to address and attempt to provide closure and comfort amidst feelings of grief and loss however imperfect those attempts may be.

So, how do we do this as caregivers?

1. Talk about your feelings.
2. Talk about the cycle of life. I like the book Lifetimes as a helpful start to addressing this with kids.
3. Talk about the memories. I like the book The Memory Box as a start to helping kids think about memories and making a memory box or scrap book for all their own memories.
4. Be around. And if that’s too hard, find a group, social worker or counselor for extra help.

Loss can come in all different forms, ways and times. Some that come to my mind are:

• A friend moving away
• Divorce
• Change of schools
• Covid 19 – delayed grief
• Death of a pet, friend, family member etc…

Remember to incorporate the 4 things above with regularity for best results for the kids in your life.

Don’t parent alone.

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