Lane Hendricks on Widowed Parenting of Infants and Young Kids

I had such a great discussion with Lane Hendricks for this episode. It was great to have her back on the show, after our initial discussion way back in episode 11. Today’s topic is based on questions I’ve gotten from listeners who are widowed parents of infants and very young children. I knew Lane would be just the right person to talk with about this topic, based on both her professional experience and her own experience losing her husband when one of her daughters was 3 and the other was an infant.

I should say that we did have some issues with sound quality, because we recorded just last week, during this global pandemic, when so many people are working and doing school from home and the internet seems to be overloaded. In fact, at one point we lost the call all together, but fortunately I was able to get Lane back on the line. We could have probably continued talking much longer, but it was getting difficult to hear everything Lane was sharing with us.

Some of the topics we discuss include:

• Some of the main issues or challenges that can come up when people find themselves the widowed solo parent of an infant;

• The fact that an infant needs someone to consistently meet their needs in order to develop a secure attachment;

• Challenges that might unfold over time, and how this differs from kids who lose a parent later in childhood;

• Getting support for kids throughout the years; and

• Lane’s basketball analogy about the resiliency of kids.

I hope you enjoy my discussion with Lane Hendricks.

Links & resources for this episode

• Kate’s Club (Atlanta, Georgia)

• Episode 11 - Lane Pease from Kate’s Club on building resilience in kids after loss

More links for listeners

• Download: Kids & Grief: What You Need to Know

• Article: I’m a Widowed Mom: Here Are My 3 Tips for COVID-19 Widows

• Book: Widowed Parents Unite: 52 Tips to Get Through the First Year, from One Widowed Parent to Another

Thank you sponsors & partners:

Help Texts - Grief support text messaging service. Tips and support delivered all year long, personalized based on your loss. Listeners get $10 off: https://helptexts.com/jennylisk

BetterHelp - Talk with a licensed, professional therapist online. Get 10% off your first month: betterhelp.com/widowedparent

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