Pet loss

Pets are good for children for many reasons, supposedly one of which is that it allows them to experience loss.  Do you think there's some truth to that?  If loosing a pet is meant to toughen the owners up, then I have to say that it hasn't worked for me.  I've lost quite a few special pets and I still ache for every one of them.  Does anyone else struggle to cope with pet loss?  If you lost a pet as a child or young adult, do you think it helped you cope with grief down the road? 

I don't think it helps. Each is a separate loss that comes with its grief that anyone before it won't ease the pain of the next. We only learn something from each experience, but it doesn't make any death easier to handle.

I don't think anyone really looks at it as a way to toughen up kids, or at least I hope no one does.  However, I do think that it helps children learn coping skills for dealing with grief.  I also think it shows them what death - as in gone forever - really means.  

Losing a pet can also be as hard as losing a person close to you. It doesn't make the grieving process any less hard, but it sure did teach me that I'll be able to handle it. The experience of feeling a loss doesn't seem to have any shortcuts.