Children’s Grief Awareness Day is on 17 November, a global day designed to help us all become more aware of the needs of grieving children — and of the benefits they obtain through the support of others. It also marks the start of Children’s Grief Awareness Week.
The theme for this year’s Children’s Grief Awareness Week is #MakeTime2Listen.Key messages:
1 in 29 children and young people in our schools have been bereaved of a parent or sibling – that’s roughly one per class.
All too often, bereaved children feel as if no-one understands what they are going through
They need their families, friends, teachers and communities to listen carefully to them, helping them feel understood and supported
Even if they haven’t got words to describe how they are feeling or thinking, family and friends can ‘listen’ to their body language and behaviour
A young person might not want to talk right now, but it’s helpful for them to know someone is there to listen when they are ready
Parents and carers shouldn’t have to cope alone. Family, friends, colleagues, schools and the government all have a part to play in listening to grieving children
Specialist support services should be available in all local areas for all grieving children and their families that need them – wherever they live and however they have been bereaved – helping them realise someone is listening
#MakeTime2Listen this Children’s Grief Awareness Week and throughout the yearOne way in which I am marking Children’s Grief Awareness Week is by reblogging a very well written blog post by a bereaved mama called Melanie:
I am always afraid that Dominic will be forgotten.
I’m afraid that as time passes, things change and lives move forward, his place in hearts will be squeezed smaller and smaller until only a speck remains.
Not in my heart, of course.
Or in the hearts of those closest to him, but in general-he will become less relevant.
But he is not the only one who can be forgotten. I am just as fearful that my living children will be forgotten.
Not in the same way-they are HERE.
They are participating in life and making new memories, new connections and strengthening old ones.
I’m afraid their grief will be overlooked, unacknowledged-swept under the giant rug of life and busyness that seems to cover everything unpleasant or undervalued.
If the course of a bereaved parent’s grief is marked by initial outpouring of concern, comfort and care followed by the falling…
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My Journey: 