One day, six-year-old Jennifer took out her scissors and made paper dolls. She made little girl dolls and boy dolls and grown-up dolls too. When she started taking the dolls and putting them under pieces of paper, her parents began to worry…all the while, Jennifer talked about the dolls dying and being buried. She was […]

Look for “teachable moments”—everyday moments that are opportunities to talk about what your child is thinking and feeling. Teachable moments could be an animal dying or the illness of a character in a book or a movie or … Ask open-ended questions that give your child the chance to answer in his or her own […]

By using nature, you can give children a healthy opportunity to understand death—by exploring life cycles and the changes that happen in living things, children will be better prepared when a family member or friend dies. Use the following natural phenomenon and opportunities: a dried fallen leaf, a wilted flower, and the death of an […]

This is the time of year, for many of us, when our thoughts turn to planting and gardening. Having recently purchased a home and moved, I find myself immersed in planting and gardening (among all those chores and tasks of cleaning, unpacking, rearranging…) –yes, creating and strategically placing flower baskets, cleaning flowerbeds and a raspberry […]

We can be so absorbed in the past and the future that we don’t notice today is slipping by. Are you just going through your day to get through it…or are you getting something from your day? When was the last time you watched a sunset, or a sunrise? —Take time to enjoy the beauty […]

Women have strengths that amaze men. They bear hardships and they carry burdens, But they hold happiness, love and joy. They smile when they want to scream. They sing when they want to cry. They cry when they are happy And laugh when they are nervous. They fight for what they believe in. They stand […]

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE. “If you’re going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning.” 2. My mother taught me RELIGION. “You better pray that will come out of the carpet.” 3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL. “If you don’t straighten up, I’m […]

Jennifer was an only child. And she had talked with her mother, Royce, about organ donation. Jennifer believed in it. But of course, being a teenager, Jen never thought about the day when she would die so she could be a donor. It was May. It was Mother’s Day. And it was an accident that […]

After 21 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman out to dinner and a movie. She said, “I love you, but I know this other woman loves you and would love to spend some time with you.” The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my MOTHER, who […]

Here is the answer to the last question in my series of six questions about grief and bereavement. It is common for you, the grieving person, to: Think that you should have died instead of the loved one. Be angry—towards others, especially family members and/or god…and angry towards the person who died or towards yourself […]