How to help a Child Deal with the Death of a Parent There are many that are taken from this life before they are ready but it can be extremely hard when parents are taken away after working with their personal health insurance provider to get the best medical treatment. When these people leave children it becomes even more hard. People may wonder what they can do to ease the situation, whether it is as another parent, a brother, sister, or just another relative. Here are some ideas that you can use to help them. Stay positive Now when we say “stay positive” we don’t mean that you give them the feeling that that parent will be with them even after they die. This can cause confusion and make it so the child never has that needed closure. This is something that can be very unclear to a child and they may become very depressed later on in life. Keep having fun This can be a good way to get the child out and thinking about something else. There may be times that they want to talk but it is important that you do it on their schedule. They are scared but they have their own coping mechanisms. Sometimes children actually express their grief through play. Whether it is art or just out throwing a ball around. Let the kids be kids It is important that they don’t feel like they have to grow up too fast. There are a lot of confusing things that can happen when a parent is lost. For instance, if a son loses his father he may feel like he has to take on more responsibility. There are a lot of things that can exacerbate this and one of these is by telling them that they will be the man of the house. There are hundreds of people that do this not knowing what they are really doing. For some this can be a traumatic and stressful experience.
Have a strong support system Children with a strong support system of aunts, uncles, and other adults that can help them through some of the hard times, will have much less difficulty moving on with their lives. The old saying that it takes a village to raise a child is especially true when we are talking about a child who has lost their parent. There are a lot of ways that we can stand in as a part of this support system. One of those ways is to make sure you are there but that you aren’t poking and prodding the kids with questions. They are scared and don’t know exactly how to react to certain things. Make sure that you show that you are interested in them and that you really do listen you are acting as their personal health insurance by watching out for them. It is also a good idea to be someone who they can lean on. This means that you need to keep your composure and make sure that you don’t show too much emotion. If they see that you are scared then they will be even more scared about what will happen in the future. Photo Credit: Sean Molin, Marwa Morgan, Fadzly Mubin,