Written By: Michelle Shreeve
Parental death is one of the most traumatic events a child can experience. Children depend on their parents, and childhood is such an important developmental time for children. So to suddenly have that connection shaken with their parents can significantly change the trajectory of a child’s life and upbringing.
Children have a lifelong bond with their parents. The parents are often a child’s whole entire world. It can be heartbreaking and devastating for a child to suddenly lose one or both of their parents while they are still dependent on them for love, financially, emotionally, psychologically, and physically to provide for them.
That’s why it’s important for children to have as much support and comfort as they possibly can following parental death. They need supportive surviving family members that can provide an open and safe space to communicate what they are feeling in the way children are most comfortable in to express themselves. They need all the love they can get and support not just from surviving family members, but from their school and community as well.
One way children can find comfort immediately following the death of their parent, is by getting a stuffed plushie doll made of their parent. After parental death, children sadly cannot hug their late parent ever again. The pain of this is absolutely indescribable, so a plushie doll can really help comfort children while they are trying to navigate their new normal. Families can send a picture of the child’s late parent to Budsies, and Budsies can send the child a plush doll that looks exactly like their late parent. The doll cannot replace the late parent no, but at least the child can hug the doll on their hard days when they are really missing their late parent, they can sleep with the doll, they can take the doll with them in the car, bring the doll to school– anywhere and everywhere to help comfort children and to help them learn their parent will still always be with them in their heart and memories, and also through the comfort of these wonderful dolls. Surviving family members can even send Budsies a recording of the late parent’s voice that can be placed inside the doll for extra comfort for children as well.
Children and families who are grieving the death of a parent are going to need all of the help, love, and support they can get. Aside from these dolls, there are helpful resources that can provide additional support for grieving families as well:
Parental Death: The Ultimate Teen Guide:
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/parental-death-9781442270879/
Coping with Parental Death: Insights and Tips for Teenagers:
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/coping-with-parental-death-9781538154892/
The Grieving Student:
https://products.brookespublishing.com/The-Grieving-Student-P1244.aspx
These books as well as Budsies wonderful plushie dolls can help children and families trying to navigate the death of a parent. The books can help families and the community guide grieving children, while the dolls can provide much needed physical comfort. All these resources can help children and families feel less alone while facing this tragic situation.
