A lot of kid Phillies fans earned their stripes with the team’s loss. Here’s how parents are helping with their ‘weird initiation.’

August Altman, 9, cried himself to sleep Tuesday night, after the Phillies’ crushing loss in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series.

Then August, a Collingswood fourth grader, woke up Wednesday morning late, sleepy, but determined. He remembered the thing his mom, Amy Marzolino, told him in the last futile innings: They were in it until the last pitch. The team hadn’t given up, and true fans don’t give up on them, even when it’s hard.

“He was insistent on wearing his Phils jersey to show them he still loves them,” said Marzolino.

Phillies fans absorbed a tough blow with the end of their team’s playoff run; it was especially difficult for many kid fans, some of whom may be experiencing this kind of heartbreak for the first time. (Or not, if they’re also Eagles fans. Or Philadelphia Union fans. Or 76ers fans.)

Kirby Wycoff, a school psychologist and associate professor in Thomas Jefferson University’s counseling and behavioral health department, gets it.

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“In Philadelphia in particular, it matters to us a lot. Being a lifelong Philadelphian and a lifelong sports fan, it is woven into the fabric of our identity in many ways,” she said.

Don’t squash uncomfortable feelings, Wycoff said. Don’t resort to toxic positivity. Validate the big emotions.

“It will all depend on the age of your kid — maybe you could say, ’I’m feeling really disappointed and sad too, this sucks,’” Wycoff said. “Model that — here’s how a grown-up experiences those things.”

That’s the vibe Jeanine Radle went for when her 10-year-old, Kellan, transitioned from sure the Phils would win Game 7 and punch their ticket to the World Series to curled up in a blanket, crying next to her on the couch.

Kellan had been a casual Phillies fan until this season, when the team of big personalities, guys who love the game and love each other, sparked his interest. He got Phillies shirts, attended Phillies games, got super into a baseball video game, and even collected baseball cards.

“This is the first time he truly felt that pain — ‘I don’t know if we’re going to recover,’” said Radle, who lives in Cherry Hill. “Losing definitely stinks, it’s like getting punched in the guts. But this is the team that you loved watching this year, that gave you so many happy memories. You’ve got a couple months, then let’s do it all over again.”

Enduring heartbreak from his beloved team made Kellan part of a club.

“It was like a weird initiation,” said Radle. “He’s a Philly sports fan.”

When Micah Honig, 4, woke up to the news of the Phillies loss, he cried. Micah is still learning the baseball ropes, and wanted to know if the Phillies had to stop playing now. His dad, Ben, told him that they would play again next year.

“But why did they lost?” asked Micah, wearing Elmo and Cookie Monster pajamas and rubbing tears away.

“They lost because they stopped hitting,” Ben Honig said. “Schwarber, Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, they didn’t get any hits. Castellanos. But it’s OK because they’re going to practice and work really hard in the offseason and then next year, maybe they’ll get us a parade, OK?”

Micah reluctantly agreed. He wanted to know about the Sixers. Probably not winners this year, his dad told him.

“You’re super young,” said Ben Honig. “So maybe like by the time you’re like 7, you’ll see a parade.”

Eventually, Micah cheered up and wanted to wear a Phillies shirt to preschool, choosing a throwback 2008 World Championship shirt that his now-18-year-old cousin wore the last time the Phillies won it all.

Olive Speers, a 3-year-old from Fishtown, was a whole mood Wednesday morning, when her father, David Speers, asked her about her big Phillies feelings.

“Are you sad because the Phillies lost?” David Speers asked Olive, who turned her head and frowned.

Olive is just getting her bearings, her dad said.

“I mean, isn’t getting heartbroken by our team just a Philly thing?” David Speers said.

My own kids took the loss in different ways: superfan Kieran, 10, was angry, even though he expected to lose. (He’s already a Philadelphia fatalist!)

“And I am NOT watching the World Series,” he said.

I had to wake Julian, 7, up to the news. He was incredulous: We were the better team. We’re unstoppable at home. How did this happen?

“I want to scream at the top of my lungs,” Julian said. Then he moved on, ever practical: “Are we going to lose somebody from the team? I would get rid of Craig Kimbrel.”

Rex Adams and his dad, Mark, watched the Phillies lose the game from their seats in Section 233 of Citizens Bank Park. The season started for Rex and Mark in Clearwater, Fla., at Phillies spring training. They felt optimistic going into Game 7, but a 2023 World Series was not to be.

The walk from the stadium to their car was interminable, Mark Adams said.

“We didn’t say a single word, the whole walk,” Mark Adams said. “Then I turned to him and said, ‘Are you OK?‘ He said, ‘We didn’t hit good enough, we didn’t pitch good enough.’ I said, ‘You’re right.’”

Rex, 10, shook off the loss pretty well; his sister Naomi, who’s 8, just gave her dad a big hug Wednesday morning. Mark Adams, founder of Hog Island Press, the Philly-based print shop and design studio, borrowed a sports mantra from Nelson Mandela: You either win or you learn.

The Phillies will surely learn from this loss, and maybe Rex, Naomi, and a new generation of Phillies fans will learn something, too. Remember when a standing ovation for struggling Trea Turner turned the shortstop’s season around?

“There is an opportunity for our kids to maybe get on board with whatever that is,” said Adams. “Hope is a discipline, they can help create a deeper something — a new thing. We saw a glimmer of synchronicity in that, and how the team felt about one another, too.”