On the first day of school, children pack their backpacks with pencils, notebooks, and new opportunities. Yet for some kids, there’s an invisible backpack filled with memories, longing, questions, worries, and missing someone they love.
Children can feel overwhelmed by this invisible backpack they carry while learning multiplication, forming complex friendships, auditioning for the school musical, or trying out for their favorite sport. Despite the challenges of learning to navigate grief and loss, they continue to grow physically, emotionally, and academically.
Carrying Grief and Joy
As children mature, they acquire new coping skills and learn to manage grief along with their happiness. Through experience, they understand that joy and sorrow can exist simultaneously. Some days, it can feel lighter; on other days, even a basic classroom activity or observing another family at pickup can make them feel overwhelmed.
Parents, caregivers, teachers, coaches, and counselors can support children in several ways:
When adults offer flexibility, understanding, and support, they can help ease the invisible weight of grief, and help children realize they don’t have to carry it alone.
