Children's Grief Awareness Day

Children's Grief Awareness Day

As the winter holidays are about to kick-off in the United States, we take pause to recognize children's grief. Children are not little adults, and this couldn't be more true than when it comes to grieving. Today is Children's Grief Awareness Day, a day set aside to recognize the painful impact of grief in the life of children. 

Having worked with thousands of grieving children through the years, I can certainly attest to the reality of that impact. In fact, our signature grief resource, How Long Does the Sad Last, was our very first instant download resource that has helped kids across the globe for more than a decade.

Children's Grief Awareness Day was started in 2008 by the Highmark Caring Place and is observed every year on the third Thursday in November (the Thursday before the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving). 

Accoring to Highmark's website, before they graduate from high school, one child out of every 20 children will have a parent die—and that number doesn't include those who experience the death of a brother or sister, a close grandparent, an aunt or uncle, or friend.

How to Help When Kids Grieve

If the care of a grieving child has been entrusted to you, find help in this free MP3 about how to support grieving children, along with links to six other posts on how to support grieving children. Find it all HERE.

Wendy Young, LMSW, BCD, is  the founder of Kidlutions and co-author of BLOOM: 50 Things to Say, Think and Do with Anxious, Angry and Over-the-Top Kids, co-creator of BLOOM Brainsmarts, and creator of The Joyful Parent. She is the creator of numerous workbooks and resources to help from the preschool through the teen years. 

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