These children received teddy bears with secret messages from grandfather during his funeral.

Losing a loved one is hard at any age, but for kids it’s especially difficult.

They can find it tricky to grasp that they’re never going to see their favourite grandpa again. Or get a big bear hug. Or hear his voice and giggle at his jokes.

But these parents found a beautiful way to help their kids grieve the loss of their grandpa. With a little bit of time up their sleeve, they were able to plan ahead for the death. And at his funeral, the kids received a gift to immortalise their pop.

It was a teddy bear.

Listen: On this week’s episode of This Glorious Mess, Holly and Andrew discuss the beautiful gift.

Sharing a video of her kids receiving their bears on a Facebook mums’ group, mum Rachel Lewis said the idea came from the kids’ grandfather himself.

“My father in law passed away nearly a month ago and he left the grandchildren with a parting gift,” she wrote.

See, they weren’t just bears. The children soon discovered the teddy held a secret message inside.

When squeezed, the bears spoke in the late grandpa’s voice.

Throughout the funeral and for years to come, the kids can cuddle the bears and remember their beloved pop. And when they need to hear his voice, it’s just a squeeze of the paw away.

“The teddies take pride of place on the kids bed they press it every night before bed and say goodnight to pop,” the Melbourne mum wrote.

The beautiful idea was cheap to execute. The parents bought speakers for $15 from Build a Bear and lavender bears from Kmart for just $9.

“A friend of the family, who is crafty, sewed the speaker into the foot of the teddy. My mum handed these to all the grandchildren just prior to the funeral. They all cherish these special bears. We have the recording saved, so if/when the batteries go flat, they can be redone,” Rachel’s sister in law Kylie explained on the Facebook post.

The video of the kids receiving their bears is unbearably heartwarming, and the little girl even talks back to her grandfather’s voice.

I’m not crying – you are!

For more fascinating stories about parenting, listen to the full episode of This Glorious Mess here:

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