Real Talk for Real Moms
It is no secret that I struggle with depression. For years I fought it without any help trying to be strong. However, I learned last year that it was time for me to quit trying to be super mom and own my depression. As I have shared about it, I have had parents ask “How do I talk to my kids about mental illness?” I’m going to answer that in a few ways.
There are many things we teach in our homeschool. Some come in a book. Some of the hardest lessons we have to teach don’t. The life moments are the hard ones to teach. They are the moments that don’t come with a manual. A few months ago I had to teach one of these hard lessons. I had to learn how to help my child handle grief.
The kids have always been very close to their great grandpa. He has always been so sweet with them. My husband’s father died at a young age so the kids never met them. Dada stepped up to be their grandpa and fill that role in their lives. He always used to cook them breakfast. It didn’t matter if they just ate a full meal, he had to scramble up some eggs.
When Dada died I knew the kids would be said but I had no idea what was coming. It wasn’t just a loss. It rocked their whole world. For their whole lives Dada was an important part of their life, and then he was gone. We went through a lot in the months following that. Grief is kind of like a tidal wave. There is the initial damage but then there is the flooding, and the water damage, and the cleanup, and so on. It is the same way with grief. It isn’t just the initial hurt. It’s all the little things that follow it.
If your child is like mine, naked barbies litter the floors. As a mom who is focused on teaching modesty to my children naked barbies are incredibly annoying. At a mom’s morning out recently a friend shared this idea for modesty barbies. With something as simple as a sharpie you can teach your child how to dress modestly while covering up the naked barbies in this modest barbie craft.
