Do you miss someone? It means that this person is close to you. How should you deal with the absence of those who are important to us, during the holidays?

This year’s Easter will be different from the previous ones. We won’t visit our loved ones and we’ll probably miss them very much. Let’s allow ourselves to feel longing. It tells us who is important to us and what we really miss about our “previous” life.

 

Family time
How can we deal with longing? (Andrea Piacquito/pexels.com)
How can we deal with longing? (Andrea Piacquito/pexels.com)

Feel the longing

You can also miss a place, a time or a memory. Longing is accompanied by various unpleasant emotions, such as sadness, anger, fear, anxiety or powerlessness. Longing is important information about your child’s needs and what is important to them at a given moment. Talking to your child about what they are experiencing helps them cope better with their overflow of emotions. 

The best thing we can do in such situations is let them experience these emotions. Don’t comfort “by force”, don’t explain that this time doesn’t count, because soon they’ll see their grandparents or their preschool friends. Experiencing longing with the support of a loved one, will make it ease with time. And a child will learn that the situation in which they find themselves is difficult, but they’re able to cope with it. When something similar happens to them in the future, they may be better prepared to deal with the emotions that accompany such an experience. The same applies to adults. Many of us are also experiencing longing in this challenging time, that we don’t always cope well with.

Stay in touch

What may hurt us and our children the most this Easter is not being able to see our family face to face, to hug and embrace them. It can also be difficult for us to bear the sadness and anxiety of those who miss us. If people who are important to you are far away, but you can contact them by phone or send them a video, prepare a special recording together with your children. Send good words or wishes to grandma, grandpa or auntie. The heroes of our scenarios, from the series entitled “In the Kingdom of Feelings,” recorded such messages to help an intimidated dog. Maybe you will uplift someone too?  

 

Self-portraits of household members 

Another idea for dealing with longing is inspired by a series of classes entitled In the Kingdom of Feelings. Think of people who you can’t meet now but would love to. Who told you lately that they missed you?  

When there were no phones and computers with cameras, photos were taken at a photographer’s and wealthier people could order their portrait. Why don’t you try to create your own self-portraits at home and then pass them on to someone who misses you? Until you send your works, you can hang them somewhere at home. This way, like royalty, you’ll have a gallery of images of household members to boast about.  

 

All source materials are prepared by the team of Kulczyk Foundation’s Education Department in cooperation with teachers and experts – pedagogists, psychologists and cultural experts – and verified by an experienced family therapist Kamila Becker. Kinga Kuszak, PhD, Professor of Adam Mickiewicz University, Faculty of Educational Studies, provides content-related supervision over Kulczyk Foundation’s educational materials. All materials are covered by the content patronage of the Faculty of Educational Studies of Adam Mickiewicz University.

The article was published on 10.04.2020 on the website of Instytut Dobrego Życia (Good Life Institute)

Authors: Dorota Szkodzińska (Kulczyk Foundation) and Anna Woźniak (Instytut Dobrego Życia)