8 Meaningful Ways To Remember and Honor Your Child

Every three minutes, somewhere in the world a family receives the devastating news that their child has been diagnosed with cancer; approximately 1 in 285 children in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer before their twentieth birthday. Cancer took the life of my fourteen-year-old daughter Elizabeth. You or someone you love may be suffering after the death of a child.

During this month, childhood cancer is front and center as September is National Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month. Frequently, during this time when the warm days of summer are replaced by cooler temperatures and when school buses pick up children waiting at stops, I have an acute physical and emotional reaction because this is the time of year when Elizabeth died. Over the past twenty years, I have tried many different ways to pull through these days. Walking along woodland trails with friends, swimming in nearby ponds, and writing in my journal are some of the ways that help me.

Contrary to what I used to believe, I discovered that reaching out to organizations that support families experiencing loss is therapeutic. I’d like to share some ideas with you today which you could do in honor of your child.

1.       Reach out to organizations that support children and families who are grieving. In the Boston area, the Parmenter Foundation, a nonprofit that provides such support, is a good example.

2.       Volunteer or make a donation to your local Make-A-Wish foundation.

3.       Register and walk or bike ride to raise funds for an organization like the Jimmy Fund.

4.       Bring supplies like coloring books and crayons, notebooks, even tissues to organizations like The Children’s Room in your area.

5.       Bring books about grieving and healing to your local church, synagogue, or other spiritual organization.

6.       You may want to reach out to your child’s school and see if there is an academic or athletic award that could be named in honor of your child.

7.       Dream big about how you would like to honor your child. You may want to work with your local town and set up a playground with donations and name the playground after your child.

8.       You may want to start a journaling program like I did called, “Journals of Hope”, at the Massachusetts General for Children.

So go ahead and try. Every activity that you undertake and every dream, that one day becomes a reality, will honor your child.