Happy Holiday?

With Mother’s Day just passed us and Father’s Day coming up, these occasions can be particularly difficult to get through for those whose child has died.

Some couples may need to spend time together during holidays, others may have diverging needs and may need to honor them in different ways.

For those families who have siblings to the lost child, it can be a dilemma, how to honor the day without bringing-up overwhelming painful memories. Each family will have a different strategy for coping with the loss and these strategies may change overtime.

It can be difficult to see other families celebrating and to join family gatherings celebrating other parents in the extended family.

Taking a moment to reflect on the child who has died, including them in some fashion maybe one way to get through the day. Another way may be to choose not to celebrate at all. Isolation through refraining from celebration of holidays can be one pitfall for those who grieve and on the other hand, showing up for functions out of a sense of duty or obligation that bring to the fore memories and feelings of loss becoming painful instead of joyful is another. Feel free to leave if you are in a situation that you experience as painful. It may be difficult to gauge what the best course of action maybe and trial and error maybe the only way to begin to know what is best at this time for you.

One way to get through the challenging feelings around the loss of a child is to get support in a group.