Two Brevard teens in a fatal wreck didn’t buckle up.
Melbourne child psychologist Dr. Vicki Panaccione said parents shouldn’t underestimate the impact of a teenager’s death among surviving classmates—even those unacquainted with the deceased.
“Teenagers are feeling invincible. They’re growing into independence and into their own autonomy,” she said. “If they’ve experienced death before, it’s usually an older person, a grandparent, something that was expected.”
But when one of their own dies, it’s usually, ‘Oh my gosh, I used to see them in the hall and they’re no longer here.’ So the trauma and shock is very real, even at a distance. That’s why parents need to take their (children’s) grieving seriously, and pay attention to what they’re going through.”
As published in Florida Today.
© MMVI Vicki Panaccione, Ph.D.
