Grief and Children

I have seemed to make a lot of friends who have been going through the same thing that my family has gone through, infant loss. Although I am sure this is geared more towards a loss of a parent it did have some great ideas. So I thought I would share that tonight on PBS a special Sesame Street dealing with grief will air.

Each of my family members have dealt with it very differently. Stockton I would say is more of a silent griever, he really deals with it privately and rarely talks about it, but is willing to help us remember Aaron in anyway. Preston is very vocal, He once shared loudly at church that he was ready to be a big brother, I told him he was a big brother and I tried to calm him down, and then he said "No, Mom I need a brother that is alive". While Sam refers to it as more of a punch in the gut feeling. I am obviously an avoider. I keep very busy trying to keep my mind occupied. But for me it is a different type of busy, I am worried that when I think to hard about our loss I question it. Which would not be a bad thing, but then I find myself going down a road that I know would not be pleasing to my Heavenly Father. I often have to remind myself of the amazing experiences we had with our baby, and the miracles we did witness. Although we did not receive the miracle we so desperately wanted, we still witnessed many miracles. So I think.....I more or less try to avoid the questioning part, and try and keep to my faith that I know my baby is safe in Heaven and one day I will see him again. I also avoid the moving forward part. I wanted to get a family picture taken, but I started thinking I am not ready to replace the photo of us all together yet. I am not ready to move forward in that way either. But I do know that time heals, it is already happening. I also know that having a firm testimony of the gospel is certainly a way to help you through grief.
I know that going through the motions of grief is important too. You either deal with it now or later, so dealing with it now seems better to me. We have done many activities with our kids to help them and I think it has helped. I hope that maybe this show will help someone out there.