Open Canvas Project

Category: Supporting Children

  • Healing Is Not Forgetting: Helping Children Carry Loss Forward

    One of the most difficult parts of grief is the fear that healing somehow means leaving a loved one behind. For children especially, there can be an unspoken worry that moving forward means forgetting the person they lost or loving them less.

    But healing is not forgetting.

    Love does not disappear simply because time passes. The people we lose continue to shape us through memory, influence, and the lasting impact they had on our lives. Grief changes over time, but connection can remain.

    Children often carry grief very differently than adults. Some speak openly about the person they lost, while others hold those thoughts quietly inside themselves. Some revisit memories constantly, and others avoid them for a period of time because the emotions feel too overwhelming. There is no single “correct” way for a child to grieve.

    What matters most is helping children understand that their feelings are safe, natural, and allowed.

    Many grieving children need reassurance that it is okay to continue remembering someone they love. They need permission to speak their name, share stories, ask questions, and express emotions which may return again and again over the years. Healing does not erase sadness completely. It simply allows grief to become something we learn to carry differently over time.

    Memory can become a bridge instead of only a wound.

    Creative expression can play a powerful role in helping children maintain healthy and meaningful connections to loved ones they have lost. Through art, writing, music, storytelling, and shared creative experiences, children are able to express memories and emotions which may otherwise feel difficult to explain. A drawing, painting, collage, or simple handwritten note can become an important reflection of love, remembrance, and connection.

    Sometimes creating something in honor of a loved one helps children feel that the relationship itself still matters and still exists within them.

    There is also something deeply healing about being witnessed in grief. When children are surrounded by compassionate adults and emotionally safe communities, they begin to understand that they do not need to hide their emotions or carry loss alone. Supportive spaces help children recognize that grief is not something which needs to be “fixed” as quickly as possible. It is a human experience which deserves patience, understanding, and care.

    Over time, grief may soften around the edges. Moments of joy may slowly return. Laughter may return. Hope may return. None of these things mean a child has forgotten the person they lost. In many ways, they may actually reflect the love and encouragement that person once gave them.

    At Open Canvas Project, we believe healing and remembrance can exist together. We believe children deserve spaces where they can express difficult emotions honestly, creatively, and without fear of judgment. And we believe one of the greatest gifts we can offer grieving children is the reassurance that moving forward does not mean leaving someone behind.

    Love continues with us.

    And so do the memories.

  • What Grief Can Look Like in Children (And Why It Often Goes Unrecognized)

    Grieving child in a reflective moment

    When adults experience grief, they often have the language and life experience to understand what they are feeling. Children do not. They are still learning how to process emotions, communicate difficult thoughts, and understand the world around them. Because of this, grief in children can sometimes appear very different than people expect.

    Many people imagine grief as sadness alone, but children often express grief in ways which are quieter, more confusing, or less immediately recognizable. A grieving child may become withdrawn and distant. Another may become angry, anxious, unusually quiet, or emotionally reactive. Some children struggle to concentrate in school or suddenly lose interest in activities they once loved. Others may appear completely unaffected for a period of time, only for grief to surface later in unexpected ways.

    Children also tend to process grief in stages as they grow. A child who experiences a major loss at a young age may revisit that grief many times throughout their life. As they mature emotionally and mentally, they begin to understand the loss differently. Questions and emotions which were impossible to process at age seven may return at age twelve, sixteen, or even adulthood with entirely new meaning.

    This is one reason why grief in children can sometimes go unrecognized. Their emotions may not always look the way adults expect them to look.

    Some children express grief outwardly. Others carry it internally. Some become protective of others around them. Some become fearful of further loss. Some become highly independent at an early age. Others may struggle with emotional regulation because they do not yet know how to explain what they are feeling inside.

    None of these responses make a child “broken.” They are human responses to loss.

    One of the most important things adults can offer grieving children is emotional safety. Children need spaces where they can express feelings without fear of judgment, pressure, or the expectation that they should “move on” quickly. They need compassionate adults willing to listen patiently and understand that grief is not something which follows a simple timeline.

    Creative expression can also play an important role in helping children process difficult emotions. Art, music, storytelling, movement, and imaginative play often allow children to communicate feelings they may not yet have words for. Creativity creates opportunities for emotional release, reflection, and connection in ways which can feel safer and more natural than conversation alone.

    At Open Canvas Project, we believe every child deserves compassionate support through life’s most difficult experiences. We believe grief should be met with patience, understanding, creativity, and community. And we believe healing often begins by simply allowing children to feel seen, heard, and safe enough to express what is happening inside them.