Kristin Hensley is a full-time mom/part-time comedian who recently shared a somber post about her son losing his teacher to COVID-19.
Hensley, who is part of the mom comedy duo, I Mom So Hard, has been churning out comedic videos with her co-star/mom friend, Jen Smedley.
But a smile was missing from Hensley this month when her son’s fourth-grade teacher died of COVID-19.
Hensley recently posted the story on her social media channels — giving a trigger warning to brace her followers for what she was about to share. She then got right to it:
“Over the holiday break Finn’s fourth-grade teacher died from complications resulting from COVID,” Hensley wrote. “Today was our first day back without him.” Hensley and her family are grappling with this now. “His name was Mr. Glover,” she shared in her post.
“He had a deep and warm British accent, a quick wit, and he made our son feel very special,” she continued. “He told Finn that he wished they were in the classroom because they both have the same sense of humor and it would be ‘such fun.'”
“He was a father, a husband, a beloved teacher, and a friend,” Hensley wrote.
“He has two children, a fourth-grade girl (and classmate of Finn’s) and a fifth-grade son,” Hensley continued. “Our hearts ache for them the most.” And as for her son Finn, Hensley reveals how he has been having a hard time processing it.
“Luckily, we have lots of love and support surrounding the entire class,” she shared. “But we wanted to share this as a reminder to all of you who are teaching our children right now, in this upside down world, that you truly make a difference, you inspire, your efforts are not lost, and although Zooms are awful … you are reaching our kids.”
“Teachers are angel-people,” she went on, before asking her fans to “send love and prayers” to the Glover family, who need it the most right now.
Experts recommend parents be as honest and open with their children, especially when it comes to loss.
“Not telling them does not protect them,” Louise Dalton, a consultant clinical psychologist in the department of psychiatry at Oxford University, told the New York Times in August. “Even young children are aware of the changes that have happened in everyone’s life.”
Since Glover’s passing, a GoFundMe page was created to support his wife and kids — which has since donated 96K.