This is a contributed post and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Meet The Harris Family.
Grief is a funny thing, and we all deal with it in different ways. But how do we feel when our children go through something that we can’t protect them from? It’s a difficult subject to discuss, and it can be either very traumatizing, or help clear up a lot of confusion. If you have a child who is naturally curious, or confused about their own feelings because you’ve lost someone recently, what’s the best way to go about it?
Honesty Is The Best Policy
If you hide information, it can cause your children to distrust you. In the future this could backfire on you and they may not turn to you for support when they need it. And remember, if you don’t provide them with information, they’ve got to fill in the blanks themselves. This could mean getting information from school friends, which may be the furthest from the truth. Instead, it’s better for you to have an open discussion.
Be Receptive To All Questions
Naturally they’re going to want to get to the bottom of what has happened and why it happened. It’s important to have an open discussion, but first you need to find out how much they know. Next, help to provide them with information in as an honest a manner as possible. It can be tempting to sugarcoat the information, but use as much simple language as you can.
Don’t Shy Away If They Really Want To Help (But Be Prepared For The Worst)
It all depends on the age of your child, but if they want to come to the funeral home with you, because they want to help don’t shut them out. In them helping out with the fine details, it could help them understand the process and grasp how they are feeling. It could be for the best. It could result in them feeling more upset, but if they really want to help, it’s best to find a duty that is appropriate for their age.
Express Your Own Emotions
In trying to be strong for the sake of your children, you could neglect expressing your own feelings on the situation. As much as you are encouraging your child to be open and honest with how they are feeling, you should do the same. They need to rely on you to help them through this, honesty is the best policy throughout the whole grieving process. It can be overwhelming in other ways, such as financially, or dealing with the estate and the will. These things can add up to so much confusion. But in displaying your emotions to your children, honesty is always going to be the best policy.
Helping your children cope with grief isn’t an overnight process. But these are some of the basics that you can do to make sure they are processing the grief in a natural way, and that they don’t feel alone in their emotions.
