Comforting a Child

After a child has lost someone important in their life, like everyone else, they require support and comfort in order to process the situation. Unfortunately, many people, especially parents, are uncomfortable with addressing the topic of death with their children. We’ve provided some useful tips and suggestions to keep in mind when comforting your child after a tough loss. If you are in the area and are looking for funeral homes in Palmetto, FL then we recommend you give us a call or stop by our location so that we can address any questions or concerns that you may have. We look forward to speaking with you!

Things to Avoid

Acting Like Things are Normal

When attempting to comfort a child soon after a traumatic loss in their life, it’s important that you avoid acting as though things are normal. Now, we don’t say this to suggest that you should act as though it is the end of the world, but instead we suggest avoiding ignoring the situation altogether. Be sure to confront the situation and voice how awful things are. By creating a more open and honest dialogue, rather than one that focuses on tip-toeing around difficult subjects, you are creating opportunities for your child to express themselves whenever they are ready to. Acting as though things are normal when they clearly are not will only serve to confuse your child in the end. While death is a natural process, the disruption that it causes along the way makes life feel as though it is anything but normal. Be sure to watch for signs that your child may want to talk about as they may not feel comfortable initiating the conversation on their own. If you suspect this, then we recommend you jump in to address it.

Not Talking About Hard Subjects

Another thing that you’ll want to avoid when comforting your child is not discussing hard subjects. This point goes hand-in-hand with the point above in that you should go to great lengths to avoid not facing the obvious elephant in the room. For example, many parents have difficulty using words like death or dying around their children. As parents, they naturally would like to shield their children from all things upsetting. While this may have good intentions behind it, by avoiding speaking about death to your child, you are subconsciously sending them the message that tough topics such as death should be avoided at all costs. Additionally, you also run the risk of confusing your child about death altogether. If your child does not learn about the reality of death from you, chances are high that they will learn about it somewhere else outside of the home. It’s preferable that your child learns about such a difficult subject with someone they love and trust rather than some stranger outside. Planning ahead may be the best option.

Not Allowing Emotions

Another mistake we see parents make is not allowing themselves or their child express emotion. Expressing emotions is how we deal with our internal feelings and stress, so it’s important that as the parent you encourage releasing emotions as it is a healthy way to cope and heal.

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