It’s okay to cry. It’s okay not to cry.
Just like adults, each child is unique and copes with grief in her or his own unique way. Children may go through some of the same stages of grief as adults – shock, denial, depression, anger, fear, bargaining and acceptance. Also, physical symptoms such as tantrums, bed-wetting, and nightmares can be a part of the grieving process. If a child is having trouble working through his or her grief, Christian counseling may help.
Wisdom for the Caregiver – from Betsy
“When we went upstairs to tell the other kids that their baby sister Ele had died, our daughter Hallie, reacted by stating, ‘Well, I’ve got to go to school now.’ She wanted to escape. Plus she wanted to be the one to tell her friends. When she came home at noon, I wanted to say to her, ‘Don’t you get it, your sister just died’…I had never grieved as a child, so I didn’t know that the tendency was to escape.”
“Other forms of grieving: a child may withdraw or misbehave or do a lot of shouting. Nor should you be surprised to find children running out to play as usual. Children find it hard to tolerate prolonged exposure to grieving.”
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