Children Left Behind When A Mom Dies

Losing your mom at any age can be devastating, but just imagine being a child or teenager. This is the woman who gave you life, fed you, diapered you and encouraged your first word and first step. She played with you, read to you, taught you right from wrong and was there for you every step of the way. I've heard it said that there is nothing that compares to a mother's love.

Children need their mothers, which is probably why divorce courts award primary custody to women in most cases. This isn't meant to be a slam on all the great fathers out there. Children fare best in a loving home with both parents. This brings me to an issue that most people don't want to think about. The issue of the children left behind when a mother dies at a young age.

My sister was 13 and I was 17 when my mom died suddenly in 1971. It was exactly 1 month to the day before my high school graduation. We had dinner, my dad left to do a little fishing and she got a terrible headache. A few minutes later she was unresponsive and 7 hours later she was dead from a stroke. The next week was a blur to me, but after the funeral I realized that I wasn't a carefree, young girl anymore. I was now an adult who was responsible for cooking, cleaning and shopping. I had to help my dad anyway I could and that included taking care of my little sister. It was hard; I can't tell you how many meals I burned or how many times I washed the clothes and everything came out light blue or pink because I didn't realize that you need to separate items by color. My next door neighbor helped me as much as she could, but she had her own family to take care of. Somehow the 3 of us survived, but it wasn't easy.