Letting Children Share In Grief.

My thesis to complete my BS degree in nursing addressed suicide in young children.  "Young" as in under the age of 10 years.  As a pediatric nurse I was often at the bedside of children who were dying.  There were times the parents simply could not share in the grief of what was coming.  One of my roles was to support the child in the process of death and dying.  

I believed then - as I do now - that children have an exquisitely accurate grasp of loss if we are attuned to and support them.

Adults, however, want to shield children from death, dying, grief, loss and all the messy details that are associated with the end of life, even if it's just a pet goldfish.  We can flush the dead one, replace it with another and who knows the difference?  They are small and gold.  Larger pets are a bigger issue - no pun intended.

Can you imagine that there might be ways to invite children into the grieving process?  Catherine Saint Louis writing for the NYTimes, "Letting Children Share in Grief," sensitively and carefully talks about how protecting children from grief might worsen the process of loss.  Recognizing that not all solutions fit all folks equally, Saint Louis offers valuable stories and resources which might be of use to you, your loved ones and clients.