Using children's books to cope with the loss of a parent

January 28, 2015

Hi all,

Some of you may recognize me from posting across a few different sub-forums here. My name is David, and my father died when I was 2 years old (I'm 27 now). He was a police officer in the line of duty.

For the past 25 years of my life, I repressed my emotions and lived like a robot -- denying and hiding anything I felt because it was uncomfortable. I believed I could just "think" my way out of everything. I thought logic always prevailed and I would never have to use emotions.

Looking back on it now, I felt empty...like I was never connecting to anyone. With the help of therapy I've started to recognize that feeling emotions (even ones like sadness and anger) are OK.

While searching for ways to stop repressing and recognize it's OK to feel emotions, I came up with the idea of reading children's books about the loss of a parent. I bought 7 of them, read one a night for a week, and cried like a baby. It felt freeing. I felt a fissure opening up. For small moments, I felt relieved.

For those of you who are repressing and running from your feelings, I hope these book recommendations give you hope and help you on your journey of healing.

Here are the books I bought. I put stars next to ones that helped me the most.

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