Monthly Archives: April 2022

5 End-of-Life Questions to Ask

For most people, it’s tough to have a conversation about death or the service at funeral homes Mentor, OH, following it. But at some point, we all face death, and some end-of-life questions need to be asked to ensure smooth final arrangements.

So, whenever you’re ready to kick off your conversation, here’re some of the questions you should ask:

Have They Made a Will?

According to a 2020 study, about 32% of American adults have a will, so there’s a high probability that your loved one doesn’t have a choice in place. Have a pleasant discussion with them and ask about their final wishes.

It’d be better if you could arrange for an attorney to help your loved one create a will and then keep it in a secure place at the lawyer’s office, in a safety deposit box, or in any fireproof safe. You should also have it photocopied in case the original document is damaged.

Do They Want to Opt for Hospice Care?

Not too long ago, most people would choose to die at home or in a hospital as it was the only viable option, but now, an increasing number of people are choosing to receive hospice care or palliative care.

The goal is to provide empathetic care and emotional support to the patient and treat them with utmost dignity, respect, and love. Ask the loved one if there’s any specific place where they would want to get hospice care.

Have They Decided on the Medical Power of Attorney?

This person, also known as a healthcare proxy or power of attorney, stands at your bedside and makes all the essential end-of-life decisions your loved one wanted if they dying are or unable to do so.

For instance, if the loved one has a sudden heart attack or a severe stroke, goes into a coma, or experiences any debilitating illness like Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, or other cognitive disorders that limits the ability to speak or write. In such a situation, the proxy makes legal decisions for the patient.

Are They Ready to Share Their Financial Information?

Ask your loved ones to arrange and organize their financial information in a secure place. It includes the details of their income and liabilities, bank accounts, credit cards, real estate, assets, and personal properties.

Let them decide how and where they want to donate or transfer their property ownership. Organizing the financial details will save the family from being scammed, and this document should be accessed only after the death of the loved one.

How Would They Want to Be Celebrated?

This question entails details about the funeral arrangements and end-of-life arrangements of your loved one. Starting from choosing the final disposition method and site, ask if there’s any specific funeral home or burial ground or should you arrange for cremation followed by a scattering of ashes in a unique way.

Also, ask and write down their biggest achievements, dreams, and goals, and how they would want the coming generations to remember them. Such personal details will help you customize the funeral and make sure their legacy lives on after funeral homes Mentor, OH.

6 Ways to Help Grieving Children

Cremation services Mentor, OH, helps you say goodbye to your loved one, but the event can be challenging for children to process. A child often feels vulnerable, weak, and lost after losing someone close to their heart and seek solace in loneliness and silence. It can further complicate the grief journey and push them into depression or anxiety.

Parents, caretakers, and educators must take the necessary steps and help a child return to normalcy during such times. The below tips can be very helpful in helping a grieving child express his or her emotions and inner feelings about sorrow and grief.

1. Communicate Clearly About Death

You should not try to protect them by shielding information from them that is necessary to help them understand the hard truths of life. If you avoid talking to them about death, they won’t share their feelings and wear the cloak of silence. As a result, they’ll take longer to get past the loss of a loved one.

2. Encourage them to Ask Questions

Children have a lot of questions and confusion regarding funerals – for the apparent reason that they haven’t attended one. Try to encourage them to ask any questions they have in mind. Your supporting behavior will motivate them to open up about their grief and sorrow.

3. Don’t be Too Over-Protective

Many caretakers seem too euphemistic about grieving and try to hide the real news. Avoid beating around the bush or using vague terms such as “moved to a better place.’

Communicate the news clearly in simple words to help them express their emotions. Remember, children can’t process such sensitive information in just one conversation. You have to inject the lead slowly but regularly and thoroughly notice their understanding and response.

Make them believe that Assure you’re always available whenever they need you to listen to them.

4. Correct Their Misconceptions

It’s natural for a grieving child to be less communicative and confused, guilty, and angry at the same time. Unlike adults, they have little knowledge about the realities of life, which makes it difficult for them to handle and share these emotions.

Reassure them that it’s not their fault the loved one has gone – instead, it’s the cycle of life, and we all have to go through it. This becomes even more important if you notice any unusual behavior, guilt, fear, misconceptions, or extreme worries in children.

5. Help them Honor the Deceased

Remembering loved ones and preserving their memories encourages children to express their emotions. Find ways to honor their memory, like planting a tree, throwing a dinner party, doing charity work, and notice how the child responds to these activities.

Also, you may ask children to draw their sketches, write them letters, or make a memory box. Such fun and creative activities will clear their doubts and help them be more communicative.

6. Share Your Own Feelings

Expressing your feelings for the deceased will make the child believe you understand their emotions and grief and that grief is a natural process. It will encourage them to open up more with you after cremation services Mentor, OH.

How to Cope with Sudden Loss

You need funeral homes Waite Hill, OH, after the sudden passing away of someone close to your heart.

If you have experienced the sudden, unexpected death of a loved one, you know that there is no roadmap for how to cope. Each person deals with loss in their own way, and there is no single right or wrong way to grieve. However, there are some tips that can help make the process a little bit easier. In this post, we will discuss some of the ways that you can begin to cope with the sudden loss of a loved one.

Step 1. Seek professional help.

This is especially important if the person who died was close to you. A professional can help you deal with your emotions and work through the grieving process.

Step 2. Reach out to your friends & family for support.

These people will be there for you during this difficult time and will help you get through it.

Step 3. Don’t bottle up your feelings.

It’s important to express yourself and talk about the person who died. This will help you come to terms with their death.

Step 4. Allow yourself to grieve.

Don’t try to suppress your emotions, as this will only make them harder to deal with in the long run. Grieving is a natural process and it’s important to give yourself time to mourn the person who died.

Step 5. Take care of yourself both physically and emotionally.

Make sure you get plenty of rest and eat healthy foods. You also need to take some time for yourself to relax and de-stress.

Step 6. Focus on positive memories.

Remembering the good times you shared will help you through the tough times.

Step 7. Do something to honor the person who died.

This can be something as simple as planting a tree in their memory or writing a letter to them.

Step 8. Be patient with yourself.

Grieving is a process and it takes time. Allow yourself to feel whatever emotions you need to and don’t try to force yourself to feel better before you’re ready.

Being unable to say one last goodbye may engulf you in a whirlwind of complicated emotions, but you can work to overcome the grief and begin the healing journey.

Here are specific tips you can follow to make the grieving process slightly better.

Share Your Feelings

First and foremost, try to communicate your feelings with a close acquaintance. Research shows that spending time with friends and family can hasten the healing process and bring normalcy to your life. Try spending some time with your close friends in a comfortable environment.

It helps you believe that you’re not alone in the grief journey and that your friends and family acknowledge your loss. Getting emotional support from others allows you to deal with the loss rather quickly.

Get Involved in healthy Activities

It’s natural to experience complicated feelings of shock, anger, disbelief, and acute pain after losing a loved one suddenly. You need the most to get involved in healthy activities to get your mind off the loss. Don’t shy away from doing activities that make you happy and feel relaxed.

While it’s true that even the small daily tasks may seem insurmountable and you feel weak and vulnerable. But not doing anything about it can take a severe toll on your mental, psychological, and physical health. Try to spend some time playing your favorite sports, walking in the park, hiking, fishing, and cooking.

Acknowledge Your Emotions

Don’t come hard on yourself and understand that this is an emotional time, and you’re likely to experience a rollercoaster of overwhelming emotions. It’s natural to blame yourself for the loss and feel guilty, especially if the deceased had some unfinished business with you.

Understand that everyone grieves uniquely and if doesn’t follow a specific timeline. Mentally prepare yourself for complex emotions and don’t hesitate to express them.

Eat Nutritious Food and Sleep Tight

Grief makes it difficult to maintain a healthy eating schedule or even eat properly, and it seriously affects physical health. Regardless of what you’re going through, never compromise your health. Take in a healthy and balanced diet and consume a lot of water.

Also, exercise for at least 10-15 minutes daily and sleep well. Don’t push yourself into isolation or cut off from friends and family, as it further aggravates the grief symptoms and makes it difficult for you to even get out of bed.

Get Professional Help

If you’re unable to get over the loss even months after the loss or you’re experiencing symptoms of complicated grief or psychological symptoms, seek professional help. It doesn’t make you look weak or vulnerable, as losing a loved one suddenly can be overwhelmingly traumatic.

Hopefully, these tips will help you find the light at the end of the tunnel and return to your normal life after the experience at the funeral homes in Waite Hill, OH.

Key Takeaways:

Some people may experience all the stages of grief while others may only experience a few. Losing someone suddenly is devastating, but there are ways that we can cope with the pain and eventually move on with our lives. Seek out help from friends, family members, therapists, or other support groups as needed; they want to help but may not know how best to do so. Remember that there is no right or wrong way to grieve – let yourself feel what you need to feel and take things at your own pace.

How to Help a Child Cope with Death of a Parent

Cremation services Waite Hill, OH, help you say goodbye. However, the mere thought of losing a parent can be excruciating and depressing. One cannot even imagine what it feels for a child to lose a parent. For them, it’s like losing a support system. Research shows that the death of a parent has severe long-term consequences for grieving children if appropriate steps are not taken to help them cope with the grief.

The onus lies on the other parent or the primary caretaker to make sure they manage to overcome this painful experience. Here are some of the ways to handle the situation:

Don’t Hide the News from Them

It is challenging for a parent or elder sibling to convey tragic news to a child. But it has to be appropriately communicated to avoid leaving any room for misunderstanding.

Try to be simple and straightforward in selecting words and let them know that the parent has left forever. Don’t use vague terms or beating around the bush as it can further the child’s distress and handling of the news.

Take Them to the Funeral Service

Allow the child to attend the final services of their parent – if they want to hear. For any child, participating in a funeral expedites the healing process and helps them accept and adapt to the new reality.

What’s important is to guide them on what they might see and hear during the services and arrange them with a person they’re comfortable with to accompany them during the final benefits.

Expect your child to question various questions afterward, like “Will daddy never come back?”, “Is daddy in heaven”? Answer the questions calmly and make them believe you’re available anytime for them.

Help Them Identify and Express Feelings

Children feel vulnerable, weak, and lost after losing a parent and seek solace in loneliness and silence. Assure them that you understand their emotions and are here to listen to them, take care of them, and share their grief.

It’ll encourage them to ask questions, share their emotions, and feel secure around you. Also, it will help them ensure that talking about death or remembering the lost one is not taboo in the house.

Acknowledge and Respect Their Grief

No two persons grieve the same way, which holds even more true for young kids. It’s next to impossible to realize their exact feelings without spending ample time with them and sharing them.

Bursting into tears several times a day is natural for kids. They have limited tolerance levels when grieving the loss of a parent.

Also, they might not seem to be grieving when they’re, so you have to keep tabs on their daily routine and behavior and check on them every hour.

Encourage them to Return to Normal Routine

For a grieving child, returning to normalcy is very important. Indulge them in fun activities and encourage them to play sports they like. Take them to a park, hiking, or play center once or twice a week to break the cycle of loneliness after cremation services Waite Hill, OH.

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