What is the end of parenthood? Empty nesters? That’s the colloquial term for parents who did their job. Whose babies now leave home, off to grand adventures, returning now only for pleasure or leisure. It’s a term that has both positive and negative connotations. “Oh you’re an empty nester now” someone might say with a heavy heart, or, “think of all you can do now as an empty nester!” The emotion of the term isn’t clearly defined, yet the term clearly defines the circumstance of the situation.

What is the term for the parent who has lost a child? What is that term? We have terms for horrible situations like widow, orphan. Surely, with so much at stake, and in such a delicate situation we can have a term to fall back on. Bereaved parent? Grieving parent? Parent of a dead child? It’s as if the uneasiness of such a situation has permiated our brain, disturbing our ability to articulate the undeniable grief. Perhaps it’s the distance we all need to create in order to not imagine ourselves in “those” shoes. These parents deserve a term, after all they’ve been through, they deserve a term.