I having been writing the last few weeks on okay ways for children to pour out their feelings about a loss they have experienced and still have good behavior.  As we have learned, all feelings are okay, but wrong behavior is never okay. From the example of Cain, who killed his brother Abel when he was so angry with him, we saw that there is a right way to pour out our feelings and a wrong way.  It is up to the adult in the child’s world to guide and teach okay ways to express his feelings while exhibiting good behavior at the same time. (Genesis 4)

If you missed the previous post, you can catch up with us by clicking onto:  Expressing Feelings, Talk to Someone You Trust, and Drawing and Writing.

Today, I am going to list another way that could bring out the child’s feelings, even in a “non-talking” child. We saw last week that, though Hannah is a non-talker when discussing the realities of life, she was able to tell us exactly how she felt about the loss of her pet dog, Rudy, by writing and drawing.

And now, here is another way the “non-talker” might express himself and that is:

ACT OUT HIS FEELINGS IN A PUPPET SHOW.

Think about it:  when you were a child, did you secretly want to be an actor or actress?  Did you have dreams of becoming a star?  I know I did, and I did my best acting alone in my room.  Often times, I would build a make-believe stage, and I literally became the star of my own show.

For caring adults who lead a child through the grieving process of a loss, consider using this as a way to draw his feelings out of him.  A few months ago, I was teaching a workshop from my book, Helping Hurting Children, at The Enchanted Cottage in Orange, Texas. Kim and Bob Forman, owners of the cottage, assisted me in the workshop by putting on a puppet show for the kids and acted out their feelings about a situation in their life. Some of the kids in attendance caught the idea, and were eager to go behind the puppet stage to express their own feelings of their loss.

And that’s it for today, but we still have more ways to learn about expressing our feelings in a way that is pleasing to God. So, join Hannah and me again next week for our next adventure in Helping Hurting Children.

May I just pause and give Hannah, a big high five for all the illustrations she does for me.