Welcome to the home of The Balanced Parent Podcast!

Parenting is often lived in the extremes. It's either Great Joy or chaotic overwhelmed. In one moment you’re nailing it and the next you're losing your cool I want to help you find your way to the messy middle, to a place of balance. You see, balance is a verb not a state of being. it is a thing you do not a thing you are. it is an action a process a series of micro-corrections each and every day to keep ourselves feeling centered. We are never truly balanced. We are engaged in the process of balancing.

Hello, I’m Dr. Laura Froyen and this is the Balanced Parent podcast, where overwhelmed stressed out and disconnected parents go to find tools, mindset shifts and practices to help them stop yelling at the people they love and start connecting on a deeper level, all delivered with heaping doses of grace and compassion. Join me in conversations that will help you get clear on your goals and values and start showing up in your parenting, your relationships, YOUR LIFE, with open-hearted authenticity and balance. Let’s go!

In this episode of The Balanced Parent Podcast, we’ll discuss an important and tender topic: supporting children through pet loss. I'm joined by grief expert and author Anne Marie Farage-Smith, a licensed mental health counselor, educator, and pet loss grief counselor. Anne Marie, who authored Healing Wisdom for Pet Loss, shares her expertise on navigating this emotional experience with children.

Here are the topics we covered:

Supporting children coping with pet loss and emotional reactions
How to help children prepare for a pet's death through open conversation
Explaining euthanasia to children by describing the decision, and process, and holding them with compassion

If you want to connect with Anne Marie, visit her websites counselingrochester.com, petlossroc.com.

Resources:

Healing Wisdom for Pet Loss: An Animal Lover’s Guide to Grief

Tune in to listen and learn how you can support your children as they navigate this early experience of pet loss.

I would love to hear from you! If you have any questions you’d like to have answered on the podcast or any takeaways or wins you’d like to share you can leave me a message here: https://www.speakpipe.com/laurafroyenphd

Laura Froyen, PhD

Laura Froyen, PhD

Balanced Parent Podcast

Laura Froyen, PhD

Welcome to the home of The Balanced Parent Podcast!

Episode 203: Supporting Children Through the Grief of Pet Loss with Anne Marie Farage-Smith