A Child's Grief
The Stages
of Grief In Children
Caring For Surviving
Children
The STAR Class
Children and Death
- When a death occurs, someone close to a child
should inform them about the death as soon as possible.
- Explain what will happen next. Tell them about
the visitation, or wake, and the funeral services and the interment.
- Reassure them that even though a parent or
family member has died, the child will still be loved and cared for by
their family.
- Children can often react to death in surprising
and erratic ways, such as regression, violently lashing out, or by
pretending to be dying or "play dead".
- Don't be afraid to express your own grief.
Children often take their cues on behavior from adult family members.
- A child should attend the funeral if he or she
chooses to, although they should not be forced to go. If you try to
protect a child by keeping them a way from the funeral, you may make
the child feel shut out or rejected.
- A child should not be told that the deceased
has "gone away" or "gone to sleep". Words
such as these can frighten or confuse a child that may or may not
understand the finality of death
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