cremation services Willowick, OH

Understanding Grief in Children

The community’s need for cremation services Willowick, OH, will never end. Honoring your loved one’s memory is a time-honored response to grief. The complicated emotion can completely derail your life. Children are not exempt from this. Even very young children can feel powerfully affected. Grief in children can look unusual. Because they have less experience managing their emotions, it can be harder for them to restrain themselves.

So, the first thing you need to do is let go of the expectation that you will be able to predict how your child will react. They’re individual beings with their own needs and demands. You have to allow your child to go through the natural steps of grief. You’ll need to do this the moment you tell them that the deceased has passed away.

Their reaction may not be immediate. Because there are no rules as to how a child may react, there’s no way to predict what their reaction will be. A scared or upset child may retreat entirely. The child will appear sullen or closed off. Conversation will feel more difficult. Or, the child might act out. This will be very frustrating to deal with, but you must understand that children have limited tools. Their emotions can’t be easily controlled.

Another normal reaction is to seem undisturbed. This happens when the child behaves as though nothing is wrong. It could be a deep form of denial, or it could be that the child is too young to understand what happened. This is frustrating as well, because you may feel as though the child didn’t really care about the deceased. However, this is the wrong conclusion to reach. Grief is too complicated.

You should be willing to speak to your child as many times as is necessary. These conversations won’t be easy, but they might be necessary. Young children need help understanding what’s going on. If you need help with these conversations, you can seek professional help. Grief counselors understand how to have difficult conversations. Speaking to a child about death is something they learn how to do.

It’s impossible to map out every step of someone’s grief. There are too many potential surprises. The healing process could be significantly longer or shorter than you’re expecting. This may be disappointing, but it’s not unexpected.

Children should be protected from the world. However, protecting them grief isn’t always possible. The only thing you can do is try to help them process their new reality. Whatever happens, don’t lie to them. It’s very important that they trust you completely. It’s tempting to want to soften the blow, but this is impossible. The negative reality has to be met. The deceased is never coming back.

cremation services Willowick, OH

Children need care and protection. This is especially true when they’re dealing with mature emotions like grief. There’s no easy way to do this. It could bring you closer to your child. Having your family there in times of need is a great benefit.

The right cremation services Willowick, OH, can soothe your soul. Orlando-Donsante-Previte Funeral Home will be here to help you heal.