Learn about a new book for children that gently introduces the idea of loss and cherishing our memories.
My guest Francesca Lynn Arnoldy is a community doula and educator who developed the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine’s End-of-LIfe Doula training programs. She is also a bereavement researcher with the Vermont Conversation Lab, and leads workshops about doula approaches and end-of-life wishes. She is the author of Cultivating the Doula Heart: Essentials of Compassionate Care as well as the forthcoming picture book Map of Memory Lane. She discusses the importance of resources for educating children about death and grief from an early age. Learn more about her doula work and her book at these websites:
This episode includes:
- Why Francesca was inspired to write a book about grief for children
- How children grieve differently from adults
- Why we need to teach children from a young age about the cycle of life and death and how to approach grief
- How Francesca handled grief with her own children when their dog died
- Many adults today are still dealing with issues of unresolved grief from childhood
- Why we need “healthy preparedness” for the end of life at all ages – the education should begin in childhood
- How the book is a valuable teaching tool for parents/grandparents/teachers/doulas to use with children
- Why simple and clear information is preferable for children
- The importance of grief legacy work and how doulas can help families with this process
- How Francesca is using crowdfunding through Kickstarter to get the book into print
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Francesca’s Kickstarter Page for Map of Memory Lane
- Sign up for the 2021 online reading group A Year of Reading Dangerously at this link
- Support your local bookstore by buying my books on Bookshop and Indiebound: 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying and The Journey from Ego to Soul
- Subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Stitcher Radio
- Check out the Series I’ve recorded in the past here
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