Search Results for: blog illness and death in the extended family part one

Death in the Family

As I write this I am sitting not in Texas, but in Iowa. My wife’s grandfather passed away and we are back in town for the funeral. Our son’s great-grandfather has moved on. The difficulties were/are many: A near one-thousand mile car drive? CHECK. Missing a week of work? CHECK. Missing a week of school? CHECK. One three month old child? CHECK. …who isn’t “road-tested”? CHECK. With all of these really good reasons for not making the trip why would we actually decide to do it? Family. My wife was understandably close to all of her grandparents. This closeness also … Continue reading →

Illness and Death in the Extended Family, Part Three—Take Care of Yourself Too

When there is a serious or terminal illness or death in the extended family, it is common for us parents to take care of everyone EXCEPT ourselves. We focus on helping our children cope and may need to take care of all sorts of other details and support as well. As I write about how illness and death in the extended family can affect the household and family, I think it is important to remind us all to take care of ourselves too. The last person on our list of who to look after may be ourselves but the truth … Continue reading →

Illness and Death in the Extended Family, Part Two—Older Children and Teens

I wrote earlier today, introducing this topic of helping our children to cope with the illness and death of a family member. Many of our children have been shielded from death and it can be confusing, overwhelming and traumatic. With older children and teens, they may be expected to understand more or participate on a more personal level and there are ways we parents can help older kids learn healthy ways of coping and dealing with grief and the stress that can surround an illness and death. I have found the important thing to remember is that each of our … Continue reading →

A Death in the “Other Family”

Even though we may be separated or divorced from our child’s other parent, most of us single parents are not ever completely separated from our ex in-laws or the “other” family. After all, these people are often still involved with our children and they are part of our children’s lives even if they do not really feel like they are part of ours. When there is a death in our children’s other family, it can be challenging and confusing for us as to what our role is and how to help our children deal with the loss and grief. Our … Continue reading →

Illness and Death in the Extended Family, Part One

Death is so much a part of life, but in our society, we are often shielded from the constant ordinariness of dying. Our children, in particular, may live to be quite old before they are ever around someone who is dying or experience death in the extended family. We know longer live in tight little tribes and keep our family members around us throughout the life span. I think that this is the main reason that when there is an illness and death in the extended family, it can be disorienting and challenging for children (not to mention their parents.) … Continue reading →

Death, Grief and Business—Part Two

I wrote earlier this morning about ways to approach trying to run our home businesses while dealing with grief and death issues, but that is not the only way that death and grief can affect our business. Chances are, at some point or another, we will have a customer, client, colleague, or vendor who is experiencing a terminal illness, or has experienced the death of a loved one and is working through the stages and grief. It takes caring, sensitivity and compassion on our part and those don’t always seem to be words and emotions one thinks of when one … Continue reading →