When parents pass away, siblings weep together and lose all sense of direction. This tragic and irreversible event can either strengthen or break bonds. Sometimes the core family unit is reinforced, and other times it shatters into a thousand pieces. Without its pillars, the family struggles to regain its equilibrium. Yet, it can face this sad reality without tearing itself apart and, hand in hand, cushion the emotional blow.<\/p>\n
It's a moment all children dread, and many still cling to the childish belief in an eternal parent. But even if we hope to experience this bitter grief as late as possible, sometimes tragedy strikes without warning. When parents depart on their final journey to the heavens, they leave behind a family overwhelmed, lost, and disoriented. Orphans who lose all sense of maturity.<\/p>\n
In some cases, this tragic event brings siblings closer together, but sometimes it tears them apart, and not just because of inheritance issues. We've barely said our goodbyes to the deceased before we have to appoint a new unofficial guardian, redistribute roles within the family, and find our place in this internal chaos. The collective grief then transforms into a crisis. And this doesn't only happen in unstable families like those in "Shameless."<\/p>\n
"Family dysfunction following a bereavement is common and can make the grieving process even more painful, adding further stress to an already intense and emotionally charged situation,"<\/em> explains Gabrielle Applebury, a licensed marriage and family therapist with Love to Know<\/a> . And the statistics bear this out. According to one study<\/a> , conflicts arise in 20% of families experiencing grief. Without an authority figure, there's this strange feeling of emptiness, and everyone clings to their old habits when a reorganization is inevitably necessary.<\/p>\n In a family, each person plays an unconscious role. There's the one who handles the paperwork, the one who provides emotional support, the one who lightens the mood. When the parents are no longer there, the siblings maintain the same dynamic, and there can be a feeling of inequality in the distribution of responsibilities.<\/p>\n For example, the younger sibling might delegate the heaviest administrative tasks to the eldest, who is still accustomed to supervising the parents and ensuring the siblings' safety. The younger children shirk these responsibilities by claiming it's not their place, as if their position in the family grants them a "free pass." "Once these patterns are established, significant individual work, coordinated with that of other family members, is necessary,"<\/em> explains the specialist. Therapists refer to these as "invisible loyalties."<\/p>\n Beyond this reality, old resentments can resurface, especially if there has been unequal treatment of the children. In a family, there are sometimes the favored ones and the black sheep. It doesn't take much for a conversation about a simple trinket or a keepsake box to turn into a settling of scores. It's the famous "pressure cooker" effect: an emotional shock and everything explodes. And it's not just gratuitous malice.<\/p>\n "Pre-existing communication and connection difficulties can intensify during this period, especially when there is usually a need for a lot of coordination (funeral arrangements, will, end-of-life care, etc.),"<\/em> warns the expert.<\/p>\n Parents embody authority and unity. They are the link between family members<\/a> , the arbitrators of conflict, the creators of shared memories. When they are no longer there, we feel like five-year-olds. At that precise moment, we almost wish we were an only child, without realizing that sharing this grief helps us through it. Even if we struggle to find a positive way out of this underlying darkness, it exists.<\/p>\n "To cope with family dysfunction, one of the best things you can do is take care of yourself,"<\/em> advises the therapist. It's not selfish; it's a valuable decision for preserving family harmony. Grieving<\/a> in a healthy way helps avoid chaotic scenes and maintain the foundations of the safe haven that parents have so painstakingly built. Here's what Gabrielle Applebury recommends:<\/p>\n Parents are the backbone of the family, the lifeblood of the home. When they pass away, it takes time for the siblings to regain their footing and stability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When parents pass away, siblings weep together and lose all sense of direction. This tragic and irreversible event...","protected":false},"author":8340,"featured_media":438964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_msn":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5678],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-438961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-societe"],"image":{"medium":["https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/perte-parents-impact-fratrie-200x113.jpg",200,113,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/perte-parents-impact-fratrie-500x281.jpg",500,281,true]},"custom":{"td_video":"","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/perte-parents-impact-fratrie.jpg","author":{"name":"\u00c9milie Laurent","avatar":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-2f5d8c00d5d5c27f8ce4d9b3f9015467-96x96.png"},"categories":[{"term_id":5678,"name":"Society","slug":"societe","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5846,"taxonomy":"category","description":" The Society section of The Body Optimist unpacks the debates that shape women\u2019s lives: equality, discrimination, beauty standards, social ties and the place of bodies in public space. Its analysis, first-person stories and practical advice are for anyone who wants to understand the pressures of everyday life and push back, with an inclusive, body-positive and judgment-free perspective.<\/p>\n Beauty standards are a social issue because they are neither natural nor universal: they shift from one country to another and from one era to the next, as our article on how beauty standards differ around the world<\/a> shows. Yet these ideals of thinness, youth and flawless skin have very real effects: comments starting in childhood, pressure to watch your weight, unequal treatment at work and in health care, online harassment. Recognizing that a norm is constructed helps you take a step back, spot the messages designed to make you feel guilty and choose what you want to keep. That is the common thread of this section: connecting individual experiences to the collective mechanisms that produce them.<\/p>\n If you experience discrimination or online harassment, the first step is to keep evidence, then to turn to the right people, who will depend on the country you live in:<\/p>\n Born from a plus-size fashion site, our magazine looks at social issues through the lens of the body and representation. We give a voice to the people most affected, we explain the words before debating them (sexism, fatphobia, trans identity, consent) and we favor practical ways forward over outrage alone. Our articles start from everyday experiences to shed light on broader patterns, without moralizing or pitting women against each other.<\/p>\n Discrimination is unequal treatment based on a characteristic protected by law, in a specific area such as employment, housing or access to goods and services. Protected grounds vary from country to country, but they often include sex, race or ethnic origin, disability, age, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity. Some places also protect physical appearance or weight.<\/p>\n Intersectionality describes how several forms of discrimination can overlap in the same person and reinforce one another. The American legal scholar Kimberl\u00e9 Crenshaw coined the term to describe the experiences of Black women. A woman who is both fat and lesbian, for example, may face sexism, fatphobia and homophobia, which compound one another rather than simply adding up.<\/p>\n Diet culture is the set of beliefs that equates thinness with health, success and personal worth. It shows up in foods labeled \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad,\u201d compliments on weight loss and the shaming of fat bodies. Our magazine prefers a weight-inclusive approach to health, at every size.<\/p>\n Want to go further? Our Culture<\/a> section explores how bodies and identities are portrayed in movies, TV shows and books, and our Psychology<\/a> section supports you with self-image, confidence and emotions.<\/p>","parent":0,"count":1539,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":5678,"category_count":1539,"category_description":" The Society section of The Body Optimist unpacks the debates that shape women\u2019s lives: equality, discrimination, beauty standards, social ties and the place of bodies in public space. Its analysis, first-person stories and practical advice are for anyone who wants to understand the pressures of everyday life and push back, with an inclusive, body-positive and judgment-free perspective.<\/p>\n Beauty standards are a social issue because they are neither natural nor universal: they shift from one country to another and from one era to the next, as our article on how beauty standards differ around the world<\/a> shows. Yet these ideals of thinness, youth and flawless skin have very real effects: comments starting in childhood, pressure to watch your weight, unequal treatment at work and in health care, online harassment. Recognizing that a norm is constructed helps you take a step back, spot the messages designed to make you feel guilty and choose what you want to keep. That is the common thread of this section: connecting individual experiences to the collective mechanisms that produce them.<\/p>\n If you experience discrimination or online harassment, the first step is to keep evidence, then to turn to the right people, who will depend on the country you live in:<\/p>\n Born from a plus-size fashion site, our magazine looks at social issues through the lens of the body and representation. We give a voice to the people most affected, we explain the words before debating them (sexism, fatphobia, trans identity, consent) and we favor practical ways forward over outrage alone. Our articles start from everyday experiences to shed light on broader patterns, without moralizing or pitting women against each other.<\/p>\n Discrimination is unequal treatment based on a characteristic protected by law, in a specific area such as employment, housing or access to goods and services. Protected grounds vary from country to country, but they often include sex, race or ethnic origin, disability, age, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity. Some places also protect physical appearance or weight.<\/p>\n Intersectionality describes how several forms of discrimination can overlap in the same person and reinforce one another. The American legal scholar Kimberl\u00e9 Crenshaw coined the term to describe the experiences of Black women. A woman who is both fat and lesbian, for example, may face sexism, fatphobia and homophobia, which compound one another rather than simply adding up.<\/p>\n Diet culture is the set of beliefs that equates thinness with health, success and personal worth. It shows up in foods labeled \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad,\u201d compliments on weight loss and the shaming of fat bodies. Our magazine prefers a weight-inclusive approach to health, at every size.<\/p>\n Want to go further? Our Culture<\/a> section explores how bodies and identities are portrayed in movies, TV shows and books, and our Psychology<\/a> section supports you with self-image, confidence and emotions.<\/p>","cat_name":"Society","category_nicename":"societe","category_parent":0}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8340"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438961"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":439459,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438961\/revisions\/439459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} The origin of these dysfunctions, according to a therapist<\/h2>\n
The best ways to deal with it, without forcing anything<\/h2>\n
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What you\u2019ll find in the Society section<\/h2>\n
\n
Why are beauty standards a social issue?<\/h2>\n
What can you do about discrimination or online harassment?<\/h2>\n
\n
Our approach: connecting the personal and the collective<\/h2>\n
Articles to start with<\/h2>\n
\n
Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n
What counts as discrimination?<\/h3>\n
What is intersectionality?<\/h3>\n
What is diet culture?<\/h3>\n
What you\u2019ll find in the Society section<\/h2>\n
\n
Why are beauty standards a social issue?<\/h2>\n
What can you do about discrimination or online harassment?<\/h2>\n
\n
Our approach: connecting the personal and the collective<\/h2>\n
Articles to start with<\/h2>\n
\n
Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n
What counts as discrimination?<\/h3>\n
What is intersectionality?<\/h3>\n
What is diet culture?<\/h3>\n