I find that each of my boys processes grief a little differently even though they have been raised the same. It’s actually kind of fascinating. With the recent loss of our Allie, I got to see how different my boys truly are.

My oldest seems to get angry first. Then he goes to sad. But after that, he starts looking at the positives. “Her leg doesn’t hurt anymore. She’s playing with Avery again. Hey, maybe we’ll get a new puppy!”

My middle one is the more emotional one. He just cries. He finds every little thing sentimental. He’s very much like his dad.

Then the little guy. He’s a quiet griever, much like me. He gets all teary-eyed and sad, then presses on through. He tries not to dwell on it too long and then something funny comes out of his mouth. However, he’ll still go out and sit where he buried his fish and have a conversation with it.

Very different coping skills, but overall I think they’re doing pretty well. How do your children react?