Crazy Good Turns: Thoughts on Grief

I love the Crazy Good Turns podcast, a "celebration of good," with stories about the good people do for others. This episode is about Camp Hope, a place for grieving children. Camp Hope counselors, like the campers, all dealt with loss at an early age.

I adopt 'hospice babies' no one else wants; here's why - TODAY.com

 "We invest deeply, and we ache terribly when these kids die, but our hearts are like stained-glass windows. Those windows are made of broken glass which has been forged back together, and those windows are even stronger and more beautiful for having been broken."

I adopt 'hospice babies' no one else wants; here's why - TODAY.com

A Children's Book About Grief

The Heart and the Bottle, written and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers, is a very wise book for children about loss and grief.  A little girl is so sad when her father dies that she "puts her heart in a bottle" so she will not feel the pain any more.  But if she cannot feel pain she cannot really feel happiness, either.  It isn't until she grows up and gets some help from another little girl that she finds the courage to feel again.  

Helping Children Cope with Death and Dying

 "As children encounter illness, loss, and grief, they seek to understand the events and make sense of what they’re feeling and experiencing. Whether adults realize it or not, children are aware of death. Most have seen a bird, insect, or animal lying on the ground. They may have seen death on television or in movie, and they hear about it in fairy tales.

As children encounter illness, loss, and grief, they seek to understand the events and make sense of what they’re feeling and experiencing. Whether adults realize it or not, children are aware of death. Most have seen a bird, insect, or animal lying on the ground. They may have seen death on television or in a movie, and they hear about it in fairy tales.
While they may not yet have an adult’s sophistication as they seek answers, they can turn to their beliefs, faith, rituals, and practices to help them gain understanding. This process makes children “spiritual pioneers,” a phrase first used by Dr. Robert Coles to describe children who are trying to make sense of the world without the cognitive-spiritual maps that most adults possess.

Children have a complex development process influenced by many factors, including religious and spiritual organizations, mainstream media, books, magazines, celebrities, public figures, and other cultural icons. Unlike adults, children don’t make clear distinctions between spirituality and religion. Even very young children may have clear, though often fluid, ideas about faith, prayer, and divine experiences. Religious and spiritual experiences can exert a powerful influence in their lives, affecting their moral development, their idea of social relationships, their way of perceiving themselves and their behavior, and their way of integrating daily occurrences into a broader spiritual view."



Helping Children Cope with Death and Dying

Podcast: Kids Ask About Death

Sarah Troop, executive director of the Order of the Good Death, answers kids’ questions about death and dying on The Longest Shortest Time podcast.

The Order of the Good Death is a group of funeral industry professionals, academics and artists exploring ways to better familiarize America’s “death phobic” society with mortality and its meaning.

Podcast: Kids Ask About Death

Helping children say goodbye

Helping children say goodbye | Albert Lea Tribune: "Question: 

What do I say to a child who did not get to say “goodbye” to a special grandfather before he died?



Answer: 

No matter how old we are, we can carry grief over not “being there” to say goodbye to someone important to us. I have appreciated the insights of Darcie Sims, a bereaved parent, psychotherapist and nationally known speaker and author, who herself died this year in February. She would say,

“Goodbye? Why would I want to say goodbye?  I wasn't through saying hello!” Darcie Sims would also share her story: “Twenty-five years ago, I did get to say goodbye.  I knew the end of our son’s life was approaching and I got the chance to give one last hug and say one last sentence. I got the chance to say goodbye and I didn’t take it.  In the last moments of my son’s life and years later, of my parent’s lives, I did not say goodbye. With the very last breath of my son’s life, I simply said, ‘I love you.’  I was able to be with my mom in her final hours and I did not say goodbye. I said, ‘I love you.’ And although I was not with my dad when he died, when I left his home on what was to be his last night, I kissed him and said my last words to him, ‘I love you.’ Let go of the hurt you are experiencing if you did not get to say goodbye. You would not have said it, even if you had the chance. You would have said, ‘I love you.’”

Take some time to make your child’s own picture book of photos of that special grandfather. At the beginning of the book write the words, “Hello, Grandpa!” Above each photo write, “I remember . . . ”  At the close of the book, write, “I love you Grandpa.” 

If you would like to talk about the challenges in raising children, call the toll-free Parent WarmLine at 1-888-584-2204/Linea de Apoyo at 1-877-434-9528. For free emergency child care call Crisis Nursery at 1-877-434-9599.  Check out www.familiesandcommunities.org and Grief, Trauma and Loss: Helping Children Cope CD (Foster W. Cline, M.D.) at the PRC Specialty Library (105 First Street SE, Austin)."

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National Bereavement Camp Conference -- for Facilities to Help Children With Loss

Moyer Foundation - Events: "

 The Moyer Foundation is excited to announce that the 2015 National Bereavement Camp Conference (NBCC) will be held November 16 & 17, 2015 in Washington, D.C., at the Liaison Capitol Hill. The NBCC is presented in partnership with the New York Life Foundation.  Questions? Contact Bethany Gardner, Camp Erin Program Manager, at bethany@moyerfoundation.org or (206) 298-1217.

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