Grief

There's a story going around that Paris Jackson was throwing a fit right before her speach at her father's funeral and didn't want to speak. She was supposedly crying and in hysterics. That could be true. The family could have asked her if she wanted to speak and she screamed no and then 5 min later changed her mind. Grief is a weird thing. That capacity of grief knows no rules. And children have a real hard time with it because they have no idea how to handle the magnitude of it. Adults don't really either, but, children have an extra hard time because of their attention spans and their ability to "go somewhere else" in their minds.
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I know when we had Eric's viewing and funeral, I thought it was important that Lissa go. I didn't take her into the room where he was in his coffin, but, you could see it from a distance. She avoided looking in the room where he was. The whole family kept her beside us, talking to her, saying comforting things..but, at one point she did look and she broke down screaming "That's not my daddy!" She crawled under a chair and was sobbing, snot running, she wouldn't come out. She got very violent. I got down under there with her and said "I'm so sick of this place, I want a cheeseburger." She said "Yeah!" I remember her saying "Dawma, let's leave this awful, awful place." And she came out and she and I left. On the way out the door she was all happy and talking about a happy meal and a toy. The next day we had the funeral and she was fine, just sad at times. She sat and watched all her daddy's films that they played. She colored in a tablet I'd brought for her. At home she'd be happy and playing one minute and clutching her dads picture and sobbing the next. Her grief was so great she'd fall to the floor in anguish, yet five min later she'd be giggling and playing. I don't know how kids handle grief, their mind seems to protect them when they've had enough.
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So, I think these stories about Paris Jackson are probably true, but, arm chair psychiatrists are making more out of it and should leave the kid alone. There's no doubt in my mind that the child wanted to say something about her daddy..once her mind accepted for a moment, that he was gone. I don't know about the rest of the Jackson's, but, I don't think Janet is crazy enough to force the kid onstage. Funerals are just an insane time, emotions are high and no one really knows how to handle them when the deceased is someone close. What in the world could even come close to the grief of a little child who has lost a parent?