Supporting Your Grieving Teen

RELATIONAL HEALTH FOR WIDOWS

Supporting your grieving teen can feel overwhelming, especially as you navigate your own grief. When supporting our teens in their grief, it’s important to remember that they are grieving a different relationship than you are, as well as different secondary losses. They’ve lost a parent and have been left with a parent who is shattered and unable to be the strong figure they were while navigating their own grief.

From the moment their parent died, they see that other adults constantly offer you hugs, ask how you’re doing, and offer you help while, in most cases, likely overlooking them. At my own husband’s funeral, my 16-year-old son was approached by a well-meaning adult man who told him “You’re the head of the household now and you’ll have to take care of your mom and younger siblings.” A family member asked me in front of him if he would plan to stay close to home for college now so he could help me with his siblings.

Although I know that both of the peo…