{"id":51750,"date":"2018-07-18T05:44:19","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T09:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=51750"},"modified":"2018-07-18T08:07:57","modified_gmt":"2018-07-18T12:07:57","slug":"how-we-can-support-children-during-times-of-grief-mitchell-funeral-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/how-we-can-support-children-during-times-of-grief-mitchell-funeral-home\/","title":{"rendered":"How we can support children during times of grief ~ Mitchell Funeral Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-51756\" src=\"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2018\/07\/adult-black-and-white-books-77167-300x201.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2018\/07\/adult-black-and-white-books-77167-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2018\/07\/adult-black-and-white-books-77167.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>In a quiet corner of the reception room at Mitchell Funeral Home there is a painterly image of two children walking through long, golden grass towards a bright yellow sky, colourful birds, and butterflies. It\u2019s Mary Cindrich\u2019s illustration on the cover of Melissa\u2019s Lyon\u2019s acclaimed book, <em>I Will Always Love You<\/em>. The story was written to provide comfort to children who have suffered the loss of a loved one and it resonates with Funeral Director Larry Mitchell, his wife Colleen and son Bill. \u201cWe just kind of connected with it,\u201d says Bill. \u201cIt seems like it\u2019s for children, but it\u2019s good for everyone.\u201d It\u2019s now a resource they keep on hand for families they serve at the funeral home.<\/p>\n<p>The story is simple and provides guidance on how to move forward with life\u2019s journey while continuing to embrace the spirit of the person you\u2019ve lost. And for the Mitchell family, it embodies the honesty and simplicity kids need to heal.<\/p>\n<p>Larry acknowledges that many people\u2019s first instinct is to shelter kids from talking about death, but he says it\u2019s imperative to let go of that fear.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"modern-quote full\"><p>The tough questions are more in parents\u2019 heads than in the children\u2019s minds. Kids are very curious. It\u2019s natural and parents should allow that curiosity to come out. For the most part, they just want the basic questions answered and to move on.<br \/>\n<cite>Larry Mitchell, Funeral Director<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Larry says we can all take a cue from that young resiliency and try to consider the big picture. \u201cChildren are a reminder of the circle of life. It may be clich\u00e9, but it\u2019s true. Grandpa died; he was 92 years old. The four-year-old great granddaughter brings back the reality of what it\u2019s all about, that life goes on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Mitchells also believe that as members of the family, children should be included in at least a portion of the formalities, within reason. \u201cWe have to manage expectations and remember that children won\u2019t react the same way parents do,\u201d Larry says. Many teens will want to return to normalcy as soon as possible and often that means going back to school and being with their peers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVery young children are unable to grasp what has happened,\u201d Larry says. \u201cSome parents don\u2019t understand how their kids can be happy and play games at the funeral home. But kids are just doing real life and want to feel normal.\u201d On that note, it\u2019s important to consider the logistics of having young children attend funerals and visitations since they have relatively short attention spans. Larry recommends that parents create a backup plan and have care set up so that the kids don\u2019t have to be there for long hours.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s important to remember that just like grieving adults, there\u2019s no one-size-fits-all way to help kids find comfort. But Larry advises that parents address questions and create a healing dialogue. \u201cOpen conversations are key in allowing our children, and in turn ourselves, to find ways to cope with loss.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>This is a sponsored story paid for by the featured advertiser<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a quiet corner of the reception room at Mitchell Funeral Home there is a painterly image of two children walking through long, golden grass towards a bright yellow sky, [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1903,"featured_media":51755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,1188],"tags":[26,1833,1791],"class_list":["post-51750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sponsored-profile","category-business","tag-breaking","tag-grief","tag-mitchell-funeral-home"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How we can support children during times of grief ~ Mitchell Funeral Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Many people\u2019s first instinct is to shelter kids from talking about death, but it\u2019s imperative to let go of that fear.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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