Join Susan on this solo episode as she talks about a grief situation that came up recently in her life. One of her friend’s daughters, who is college-aged, is still struggling with the death of her father 7 years later. She is stuck in a phrase that she can’t seem to get out of. How do we support the young adults and children in our lives who have experienced something very painful and traumatic? Susan shares tips and her advice on this week’s episode. 

 

Key Takeaways:

• How do children typically grieve? 
• Susan can relate to her daughter’s friend because the people in Susan’s daughter’s life also failed her and very poorly handled her grief. 
• Keep in mind, the way children grieve is very different from the way adults grieve. We sometimes forget that we’re not at the same level. 
• Susan noticed a lot of people came and brought things to Susan, meals, support, love, etc. However, the experience was very different for her daughter. 
• Children don’t know how to deal with grief. 
• If adults struggle with this, you know children struggle with this immensely because it’s scary. 
• There isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ approach to grief. It looks very different to each individual. 
• Asking ‘how are you?’ to a child is really, really huge. People who take the time to ‘see’ you mean a lot. 
• It’s hard to be positive all the time. For Susan’s daughter, she felt like she was grieving wrong. 
• As kids go through grief, they have milestones that happen throughout their ‘coming of age’ lives. It’s hard to be normal when a big piece of your heart is missing. 
• Let your children feel their feelings. Don’t try to shut it down or rush it away. 
• How do you show up differently as an adult, or parent, for a child in grief? 
• Susan had a friend’s child lose their friend to cancer. There was drama in their circle of friends and this daughter couldn’t stop crying. It’s a tough time to be a kid in grief. 
• Everything is worse with grief. 
• “That’s what kids do.” is not an accurate response to someone in grief. 

 

Resources

Tendrilsofgrief.com

Email Susan: [email protected]