Route 66
What roles do rituals play in a child's grief process?
Rituals help children acknowledge the reality of death and provide a space for support, shared memories, and community. These ceremonies can offer comfort and structure during an overwhelming time.
* Children have a right to use their beliefs (heaven, etc) to deal with grief. Flipping the questions, we aren't expected to have those answers.
Children in this stage seek competence and this through activities.
What is achievement/success/mastery?
How might relationships change with parents, guardians, and other significant adults for a teenager after a death?
What is the fear of losing another important person in their life, so they may want to stay close to a specific person to prevent further loss or harm.
Camper may feel more attached to a particular counselor - support it, acknowledge it, but don't feed it. Who is it serving really? Tap out and draw some boundaries to widen that support. We are here to give them the tools, we are not the coping tool.
Can become overprotective of their surviving parents and some anxiety about their wellbeing.
Alternatively, they may want to push the boundaries or test the limits. Parents may be feeling that attachment and teenager may resist that parental attachment or caregiver protection or counselor guidance.
This behavior may include bedwetting or needing extra adult reassurance, especially at night time.
What is regression?
- Bedtime and darkness may feel isolating and remind them that someone has died, making fears more intense.
*Application grief behaviors
This is the term for a child's desire to succeed and feel good about themselves through school, activities, and friends.
What is competence or self-esteem?
To support children’s sense of competence, avoid this kind of comparison.
What is comparison to peers.
*** What is the importance of play?
What is play being the work of the child and their first language. It is a tool to help them process, express, experience their grief and say goodbye. It can be solo or social, nonverbal or expressive.
Why is it important for campers to become familiar with the camp layout and routine?
What is sense if structure, safety, and stability.
* Familiarity with the physical layout, routines, and guidelines helps campers feel safe, secure, and comfortable in their new environment, reducing anxiety and encouraging participation.
What is our role as a counselor when supporting emotions?
*It's not our place to tell a kid how to feel or what they are feeling is wrong, it is our role to create a space for them to feel what they are feeling and feel safe while doing so.
* Be open to sitting in the uncomfortable with them.
* Can't go under, can't go over, gotta go through it.
* Name it to tame it
*** In your words, expand how a camper processes the death of a significant person.
What is - revisiting the death throughout their developmental stages. As they grow up they acquire new ways of thinking about it and have new language to expess it.
* 2 years old now to 6 years old; very fresh death
* The way the death was processed then may be different than now.
Why might a grieving child seem to shift quickly from sadness to laughter or other emotional extremes?
What is- they grieve in small doses and can only handle intense emotions for short periods.
*Answer questions as they arise, follow their lead.
*They may go over the same story.
Being present through big emotions.
What do you can do as a counselor help build sense of acheivement?
Counselors can offer opportunities for success, no matter how small. Rotating leadership roles, encouraging decision-making, and framing every experience as a chance to learn and grow to help boost self-esteem.
How can we prevent boredom at camp?
To prevent boredom and reduce the risk of homesickness, counselors should introduce new or creative activities and model enthusiasm and an adventurous spirit to keep campers engaged.
Boredom can lead to negative behaviors as well.
This type of task structure fosters a sense of mastery.
What is structured and achievable tasks?
This type of answer is best when addressing questions about death with children at this age level.
A helpful response to anger or acting out behavior.
What is setting boundaries with empathy and clear expectations?
Why is recognition important for campers and why should it be balanced?
- Building trust, affirm and motivate but not foster exclusion piece. Helps them feel accepted and valued as part of the group.
What are things to consider for the particular age group at this week of camp?
Group activities help foster a sense of belonging.
Peers are highly important
Society has already imprinted "don't talk about it"
Their starting to think about their futures - who am I and what is my purpose?
They know its irreversable
They start to feel the vulnerability of the mortality
Highly connected to the world through social media in so many different ways
What ifs and the whys
Why is it important for adults to be open with their own grief around childrens?
What is - modeling behavior, emotional safety, etc. Share thoughts
What is - symbolic incongruence. Expand on this
When a child avoids peers and previously enjoyed activities.
What is withdrawal or isolation?
What is the role of an AD?