Is Grief A Lifelong Thing? 7 Ways to Help Your Child Cope

Parents understand their child has grief from past trauma and loss, and often they worry, “Is this a lifelong thing?”  Grief resulting from trauma and loss is revisited throughout a person’s lifecycle.  Grief may show itself through different symptoms, and may be triggered by various events as a child grows and matures. 

A child can become caught in their grief without realizing they have been triggered, but as his or her parent you will recognize it through their behavior --acting out, i.e.: yelling, hitting, kicking or shutting down, i.e.: refusing to talk, make eye contact, or turning away from you.  Grief can appear at significant or anniversary times in a child’s life; for example, birthdays, holidays, family vacations, when the child leaves for college, or as an adult, when he or she gets married or becomes a parent.    

Waves of Grief

People experience grief much like the waves of the ocean. When a loss first occurs, their emotions are like a big, choppy storm with lightning, thunder, and massive waves.  As the person walks along the shore, forceful waves of grief knock him over so that his balance is lost.  The waves retreat until the grief comes again, and again he is knocked off balance as the cycle continues.

As a person heals, the waves continue to come into shore but they are smaller, and as the years go by the ocean calms and reduces to a lake or eventually a pond. 

At times the water is serene but occasionally something falls into the water causing the waves again.  Not large waves like in the beginning, but a rippling of waves that bring up feelings of sadness or anger, and thoughts of, “What if . . .”  

What if . . . 

My birth mom hadn’t left. 

My parents hadn’t used alcohol or drugs.

She had the money to keep me and take care of me. 

The orphanage lady had been nice to me. 

My adoptive parents could have gotten me sooner.

These questions and feelings connect back to the original storm (trauma or loss), and  cause the waters to stir up again.

What Can I Do?

As a parent, how can you help your child when he or she is experiencing grief, another disruption in the pond, or even a small storm?

1. Listen to your child’s feelings.  By allowing your child to express himself, he is able to move through the grief and find a sense of calm. 
2. Let your child know you support him in this time of struggle.  Use sentence starters to convey you understand where he is coming from, for example: “I understand . . . “ “I’m here for you and your feelings are important to me . . . “ or “I get that this is hard for you . . . “
3. Do not try to fix the grief or make it better.  As parents we do not like to see our kids in pain, but when parents attempt to solve the problem, they are not available to hear how it is affecting their child.  Once your child has shared his feelings, then you can offer ideas or solutions. 
4. Know your child needs time . . . time to be still, think, and process the grief.  Remember, each period of grief can last a few minutes, hours or days but he will find a sense of calm again.
5. Do not encourage your child to avoid the grief as it will only makes his feelings  mushroom and grow.  Comments that encourage a child to avoid grief sound like: “Oh, just don’t think about it,” “Let’s get some ice cream instead of thinking about that” or “Let’s talk about something else.”
6. Look for the open doors to communication.  Some kids are willing to talk about their feelings at any given time while others are more resistant.  Find the times your resistant child is more open, i.e.: playing basketball, going on a hike, driving in the car, working on a craft project, or listening to music. 
7. Help your child make connections to the past.  Often, children do not see how their current grief is connected to a past loss; they only notice their feelings.  Use the Connect Back tool to help your child identify the origins of his grief.

It is normal and expected for your child to experience mild to severe periods of grief related to his past trauma or loss.  Utilize the above strategies to help your child cope when he or she is going through a period of grief.

What do you think?

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Comments

carol
Posts: 2

Re: Good Advice
Reply #4 on : Fri April 13, 2012, 14:29:35

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I completely agree that reading is very important in a child's life. I would love to hear more about Developmental bibliotherapy and how it may help the other parents on this site. Thanks! Carol

carol
Posts: 2

Re: Such an important topic
Reply #3 on : Fri April 13, 2012, 14:27:35

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Thank you for sharing your parenting wisdom with others. Support is so important to those going through grief. Carol

MeLisa
Posts: 3

Such an important topic
Reply #2 on : Fri April 13, 2012, 09:55:04

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Thank you for touching on this. All adoptive parents need to be reminded how to handle their child's grief. I've seen my children express their grief in many ways. The typical responses in our house seem to be tears or anger. The hurt passes but I know it will be back. Over time you can sense when your child's triggers are going to be much like the passing seasons. Like with any person experiencing pain or loss the best thing to do is just be supportive.
www.adoptivelegacy.com

Elizabeth Wurz
Posts: 3

Good advice
Reply #1 on : Fri April 13, 2012, 08:49:04

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As a foster/adoptive parent, I appreciate the advice offered here and the acknowledgement that grief comes in "waves." Adults who have experienced grief at various points in life can relate to the "waves" comparison as well.

Developmental bibliotherapy (different from clinical bibliotherapy)can be another route for parents to open up communication, and reading with our children contributes to their cognitive development and reading/literacy skills too.