Caring for Bereaved Siblings
Educating others to talk openly and honestly about illness and death: When you share the unbearable, it becomes bearable.
“If we do not acknowledge our feelings and let them out, they eat away at us inside. We cannot make sadness go away. With grief, there is no way around it – we can only go through it.” “I’m sharing it with you and we can metabolize it together.” Dr. Lister talks about how it is important to use concrete words with children, and establish a space to speak openly about difficult things.
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Educating others to talk openly and honestly about illness and death: When you share the unbearable, it becomes bearable.
Illness and Loss: What is mentionable is manageable.
Emotion in front of the children: The rule of thumb is you stay several steps LESS upset than they are.
Siblings: Art therapy provides a way for grieving children to name things and express feelings.
As parents, we can dose ourselves with the pain, and then regroup for our children.
Helping the bereaved siblings answer the question, “How many siblings do you have?”
A psychiatrist recommends against leaving the bedroom of the child who died exactly as it was when they were living.
Grief in Children: A psychiatrist on signs in your child that you may need to get them professional help.
For the little sister Kaia: “We’re going to make Havi as big a part of her life as we can.”
Bereavement: how is the rest of the family doing – son, husband? Talking about it!
Hayden and Cameron are just part of their surviving siblings’ lives.
Sanfilippo /MPS: The dreaded question. How many children do you have?