We tend to associate grief primarily with major life traumas such as a death in the family, a divorce, or an illness. But grief may also emerge in response to changes that we might view as largely positive. Moving away from a place you have lived for years, graduating from high school, or leaving home to get married are events normally considered to be positive life changes. But they are still major changes, and as such they may entail mourning for friends, experiences, and places lost.

Helping your child learn to grieve well means learning to recognize that losses, large and small, are occasions for grief and we need to know how to deal in healthy ways with the never-ending presence of change and loss in our lives. Above all, we should acknowledge that grieving is necessary work in even the happiest life. If you do not acknowledge losses consciously, you will do so unconsciously, and ultimately the results may be even more painful and longer lasting than when you face them squarely. It is important to consciously grieve our losses so that we can give thanks for all the good in our lives, acknowledge the pain of passing, and learn to be a support for others.