[Avodah] Mourning for a parent

[Prof. Levine]

At 02:30 PM 6/14/2012, Simi Peters wrote:
>If my theory is correct, the year-long mourning for a parent is 
>meant to over-ride or compensate for situations where the child 
>might not grieve sufficiently.

I once heard the following proposed for why the mourning period for a 
parent is a year and for a child it is only for 30 days.  IIRC it was 
Rav P. M. Teitz who said this, but I am not 100% sure.

Everyone expects his parents to die if "things go normally".  This is 
the way of the world. Children outlive parents in most 
cases.  Therefore,  there is a tendency to "forget" about the passing 
of a parent, and a year of mourning is designed to prevent this.

However, no one expects  a child to die.  It is a tremendous shock 
for parents and is never forgotten.  Thus 30 days is enough, because 
the passing of a child is never forgotten.

How this fits with only 30 days for a spouse or a sibling I do not know.

YL
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