Talking to Children about Grief and Loss during COVID-19.
COVID-19 has not only disrupted every aspect of our daily lives, and locked us down, it has also magnified losses that were pre-existing, and opened up the topics of death, loss and grief, making them part of our daily conversations. If we found these conversations difficult before COVID-19, and avoided having them, thinking grief and loss were topics for ‘another day’, they are even harder now, as the issue of mortality has threatened our sense of safety, challenged our capacity for change, emotional resilience, and questioned how we find peace of mind.
Added to this are the ‘big little losses’ - our children can’t see and socialise with friends and family, attend school, after school clubs, be at places of play, safety and refuge, all of which has thrown them, and us (parents and educators) into a state of grieving for our familiar routines, relationships, and human connections.
As we find ourselves in this new state of uncertainty and unbalance, not waving but almost drowning in grief, feeling angry one minute, and in denial the next, the question becomes - how do we talk to our children about grief and loss, and enable them to feel a sense of safety, and peace of mind? How do we find this for ourselves?
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