So many of us have lost loved ones over the past year and it has been extra difficult with restrictions that mean we cannot support each other properly, as we would normally do. Not being able to hug family and friends, not being able to have a proper funeral – all these things make the grieving process even harder to cope with.
We asked Allen O’Donoghue, from Help me to parent, to give us some advice on dealing with bereavement as a family. We have lost 2 family members in 2021 and this advice has been helpful for us, so we wanted to share:
1) to take care of yourself and look at what is going on for you as a parent;
2) try not to hide your own grief from your children, seeing you be upset or know that you are upset, may give them “permission” to grieve themselves;
3) try not to force them to talk or worry if they don’t show emotion, sometimes they need to just try and process things for themselves;
4) just listen to them, if they come to you upset, let them experience their emotions and reassure them that it is absolutely okay to feel how they feel;
5) if you have a child who generally doesn’t want to show emotion, let them know that it is okay to cry and be upset, but that they don’t have to do it in front of anyone;
6) you could get a notebook to let them write how they were feeling if they need to;
7) get professional support if they really need it.
For more advice, please contact Allen at:
