Reviews: Grief Watch and "A Grandparent's Sorrow"

When I started reading "A Grandparent's Sorrow". I thought I would get through the 40-page book in a flash.  My expectation was to be writing this blog entry last week.  Rather, I found myself re-reading certain sections, telling myself this book wasn't really meant for me and wondering why the book's title doesn't truly represent it's contents.

It took awhile, but I figured it out.  I'll get to that in a few minutes.

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The focus of this self-described 'booklet' is on infant loss and ways to support your child.  It specifically addresses the hospital experience after a baby dies, various ways to help your child, things to say and not to say to your grieving son/daughter, talking to your other grandchildren about the death, interrupting a pregnancy for medical reasons and advice for when your children decide to try for another baby.

There are also a few sections that speak directly to you as a grandparent including; how to take care of yourself, dealing with your friends and your challenged faith.  So, with very little actually addressing your loss as a grandparent, why, I wondered, was this book titled 'A Grandparent's Sorrow' when it dealt mainly with your child's sorrow?

I kept reading, going back, reading again.

One of the later chapters discusses "if you and your child don't have a good relationship right now".  That's when this all fell into place and made sense.  I am fortunate that when Kitty died, I was beyond the rough and rocky time I went through with Mandy before she married son-in-law.  I am also painfully aware that there are many difficult, strained relationships between parents and their bereaved children and this book would be extremely helpful to these grandparents as well as to those who have lost a newborn grandchild.

When I reached the end of the book, I found three pages of additional resources and memorial items available from Grief Watch.  In the 'About' section on www.griefwatch.com, it states: "The Grief Watch site was created to provide you with bereavement resources, memorial products and links that can help you through your personal loss. It also serves as an excellent educational tool for all who travel down the road of grief."  Hint: to read more on a topic on the website, you must click on the 'read more' link that follows the introductory paragraph at the top of the page.  These paragraphs may only be two or three lines of text, so you might need to look a bit for them.

The booklet, "A Grandparent's Sorrow", is published by Grief Watch and is available on the website.  After visiting, I was surprised to find myself mildly excited about some of their unique items.  You may want to take a look if you are searching for a meaningful gift for your child, other family members or even for yourself.