Children and Funerals
# You are the best person to talk with your child about what has happened. You don't need a professional to break bad news--your child would rather hear it from his parents. (although YOU might feel better if YOU talk to someone first--practicing what you're going to say is a great idea.) # Don't hide the truth, and don't delay too long before telling your child pertinent details. # Regarding funerals, there are a lot of good reasons to allow your child to attend the funeral, including:
Recommended Books about Death or Grief & Loss
Always & Forever, by Alan Durant, is reviewed in detail here. It is one of my favorite books about grief for kids. Highly recommended. The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn isn't about grief or loss, but it is a book about how hard it is to separate or say goodbye. That's certainly a related theme when we are talking about [...]
Helping Children Grieve
No parent wants to use the words "child" and "death" in the same sentence. But life doesn't always honor our wants. In the best circumstances we can introduce children to death gradually.
Talking with children about Austin’s plane crash tragedy
The MOST important thing for a parent to do in ANY difficult conversation is simply to be & stay open to communication.
Book Review: Always and Forever
Always and Forever by Alan Durant is a child's picture book about death, grief, and moving on. It's very much the sort of book that I like to review here. But this review came about completely accidentally, and the surprise ultimately made me like it even more.
