Walking With Your Kids Through Grief
written by Brandon Janous, published on The Parent Cue
Grief is really hard. And unfortunately, grief can’t be outrun. It just keeps showing up. It shows up in that song on the radio. It shows up in those memories on Facebook. It shows up in the passenger seat of your car. It shows up in the church pew you used to share. And every night, without fail, it shows up on their side of the bed. It just keeps showing up.
Grief is really hard. It’s the constant reminder that when your whole world seems to have stopped, the rest of the world just keeps going. I don’t blame the rest of the world for moving on. I’m glad it does. It’s supposed to. But, it’s hard. It’s hard to understand how the world can keep on moving when the biggest part of yourworld is gone.
Grief is really hard. And I’m 40 years old. I don’t know if that makes me old, but in those 40 years, I’ve experienced a lot of loss. I’ve lost really good friends, aunts and uncles, grandparents, mentors, neighbors, and a little over a year ago, I lost the most important person in my life, my wife, Rachel.
Grief is really hard. Now, imagine you’re a kid. Imagine trying to navigate through grief and all that comes with it, at five or six or seven years old. Imagine trying to explain to your teacher why your mommy won’t be showing up to “meet the teacher night.” Imagine having to tell the kids on your tee ball team why your mommy is never at the games. Imagine doing Mother’s Day or Christmas without your mommy this year. Imagine the constant reminder, each evening at the dinner table, as mommy’s chair sits empty, and daddy has made yet another awful meal.