Dear Parents: Letters to Bereaved Parents

If you are ever faced with life's deepest tragedy - the death of your own child - this book is one to keep near you. Divided into sections featuring letters to those who have dealt with death via illness, sudden/unexpected death, infant death, there are also sections of heart-felt writings from siblings of the deceased and caring others. With exception to a few, each letter to the parent is written by a survivor and veteran - ones who has been-there-and-done-that. Each can relate in a meaningful way to what you face. The most important quality of this book, however, is that it is encouraging, inspiring and gives the grieving reader such a realistic hope for the future. If there is a person in your life who has lost a child, this is the book to gift them with. It will be their survival guide long after the funeral and remembered after the flowers have faded. The book is also instrumental in educating any who think they can imagine the magnitude of this type of grief but really can't - those who try to comfort by trying to change the subject toward more "happy" thoughts, those who think bringing up the child's name brings on tears, the ones who insist a parent could or should heal themselves right away to move on with life and the spectrum of other misguided words and actions that do more harm than good. Although written about death, this book, more so, is written about life. In light of that, I recommend it to anyone.

This book has fabulous letters from parents and others such as author Dean Koontz and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross from bereaved parents to bereaved parents and you can believe these people! They've been there and worn the T-shirt. It's fabulous for anyone who has experienced the death of a child.