More Than Just a Pair of Slippers!
Today, I experienced one of those quiet parenting moments that stays with you long after the conversation is over. I was reading I Miss You: A First Look at Death by Pat Thomas to my daughter, Rael. The book gently introduces children to death, grief, and the emotions that come with losing someone we love. As we read, we came to a page explaining that when someone we love dies, we often feel sad and miss them. I paused for a moment, expecting the usual questions a three year old may ask. Instead, Rael looked at me and asked, "Amma, do you still miss her? Are you still sad?" I asked, "Who?" She replied, "Mummy Ammoomma." Mummy Ammoomma was my grandmother. She passed away when Rael was just one year old. For a moment, I was completely speechless. I never expected her to connect the story to a real person from her own life. Yet somehow, she had connected the idea of loss, sadness, and missing someone to a real person whom she knows. Then came another questio...