A loss can be anything from the death of a close friend or a family member to a losing hand in a card game. Our feelings of loss flow out of our reaction to change. The changes we grieve as loss reflect our values. Grieving is mourning the lost part of ourselves that we invested in the person, place or object that we have lost. Parents too often rush their children through their grief or deny them the right to grieve at all. A child who is denied the right to grieve or discouraged from showing his loss feelings quickly learns to deny the pain of loss.
             By denying children the right to feel and express their pain, we are teaching them not to think, not to feel. We rob them of their chance to grow emotionally. Parents who respect their child's right to grieve teach them that loss is a natural part of life and that persons and objects are not permanent. Grief offers the opportunity to establish or reestablish values and goals. Understanding a child's grief through attentive and reflective listening is important if they are to learn that grieving is a natural response to loss. Grief is a process of stages through which we pass when we experience a loss. The ten stages of loss are:
             1. The stage of shock acts as a cushion, allowing us time to grasp the fact of the loss without feeling the pain of the loss.
             2. The stage of sobbing is when we begin to acknowledge the pain of our loss. It is our natural way of releasing the initial pain.
             3. The stage of physical symptoms of unresolved grief includes vomiting, insomnia, diarrhea and trembling.
             4. The stage of rationalizing, or comparing our loss with other's loss, is our way of lessening our grief feelings.
             5. The stage of craziness is characterized by faulty judgments and hasty decisions. We also believe that wishing or praying will bring back what we have lost.
             6. The stage of relief does not always occur, and we should not feel guilty if we experience it. We may feel grief when...