Grandparents Also Grieve

Grandparents suffer too, in a special way. As one bereaved father expressed it: “They react not only to the death of a grandchild but to the grief of their own child.”

Yet there are ways to make the grandparents’ loss easier. First, take them into account. Their grandchild was an extension of them too. Therefore the grandparents should be accepted into the grieving process in their own way. Of course, that does not mean that they should take over without the consent of the parents. But if they want to be included, and usually they do, they should be welcomed.

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A Grandmother Writes:

“Having lost in death my dear parents, a brother, a sister, my devoted lifelong companion, friend-sweetheart-husband, my Jim, whom I met and loved at 13 years of age, and my precious little grandson Stuart Jamie​—I can say there is no sorrow, no pain, no torturous grief, which comes flooding through me even as I write, as the death of a child.”

​—Edna Green, England, on the death of her grandson, aged two years nine months.