UNDERSTANDING LOSS AS NOW, BEFORE, AND AFTER
How Do You Care for Your Student Who Is Mourning the Loss of His Mother To Cancer?
Explaining death to children
When I lost my dad, my siblings were two years and six months old. I was six, so I can relate to the experience of losing a parent early and, worse, to a terminal illness.
I teach Sunday school in church and these three children are my students. As their mother’s illness progressed, they saw it and felt it every day as she diminished before their eyes during her chemotherapy rounds. I had to explain why their mum was getting slimmer. They heard her cries when the pain was intense, and we all intensified our prayers. Her youngest was 7, and she was only in her early forties.
It took me three days after her death before I could visit. Maybe it is because I was exposed to the horrors of loss very early on. I don’t do well with death myself. I’m not as strong as other adults in this area. Even if I’d known a person for a brief three weeks, I would cry messily if I learned of the person’s passing.
So, I stayed away for three days to cry to my fill to make sure I did not cry when I visited the children.
