Children experience the pain of loss of a death as intensely as adults but they will express it in different ways.
Adults instinctively want to shield or protect children from death.
No one can fix or reverse what has happened but as an adult you can do your best to help children through the reality of this difficult time in an honest and open manner.
This means knowing how to connect to and mind both your grief and theirs.
Every November, the Irish Childhood Bereavement Network (ICBN) organises a series events across Ireland during the week involving Universal Children’s Day (November 20) to highlight bereaved children’s needs and provide a voice for them to be heard.
In 2019, one of our events, planned in partnership with Barnardos Children’s Bereavement Service, is a conversation about bereavement led by children and expressed through creative art projects and short stories. This event will take place in the Mansion House, Thursday 21 November, 1pm-2.30pm.
Mind yourself so you can mind me is an expression of creative artwork by bereaved children and young people speaks to the gap in awareness about how important it is for adults to stay tuned to their own feelings so they can stay tuned to children’s feelings.
For more information, visit www.childhoodbereavement.ie
