WHAT DO I SAY WHEN

My daughter has a broken heart? She's just holing up in her room, crying, texting her friends and eating.

It is so sad when we see our children suffering. We feel powerless. When they were little we could hold them, tickle them, bandage the boo-boo and make them all better. As they get older, the hurts are so much harder to fix. And usually we, as parents, cannot even fix them at all. [...]

by Kathie Jacobson

It is so sad when we see our children suffering. We feel powerless. When they were little we could hold them, tickle them, bandage the boo-boo and make them all better. As they get older, the hurts are so much harder to fix. And usually we, as parents, cannot even fix them at all. Unfortunately, this is the case with a broken heart. She will have to feel the pain. She will have to be angry. She will probably cry a lot. She might ask stay home from school for a day or two (or even fake a cold).

What can you do? You can:

• Check in on her and, if she will tolerate it, just sit with her, hold her, BUT BE QUIET.
• Don’t give advice, do give sympathy, BUT DO NOT GIVE YOUR OPINION even if you hated the guy and think her life will be better without him.
• Do watch your daughter carefully, especially if she has a history of emotional overreaction, and if she already has a therapist, schedule an emergency appointment just because.

Try to rid your house of junk food. Deliver your daughter healthy comfort food like a homemade sandwich, cup of soup, low-fat cocoa, or popcorn. Accept that she is likely to overeat when she's in this much pain, but help her cause less damage with her emotional eating than she might by choosing her own food. But, invite her to sit and watch a movie (not your favorite, hers) or a TV show (again her favorite, even if you hate it). Be patient. Only time can heal a broken heart.

Check out this article for more tips.

_______________________

Photo by: CarbonNYC

  Published November 19, 2009