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Julie Piazza-King, Director, Family Life Child Care Program, on Helping Children Deal with Death and Grief

Dealing with death and loss is difficult for any individual, but it is especially difficult for young children who are trying to make sense of what has happened. Even very young children are capable of experiencing grief and loss; however, they need support, comfort and an age-appropriate understanding of death to help them through the grieving process. For very young children, their first experience with death may be the loss of a pet or possibly a grandparent, and they usually think that death is something that is temporary or reversible. Adults need to be able to answer children's questions about death honestly in an age appropriate way, so as not to overwhelm them with too much information. Avoiding terms such as "passed on" or "went to sleep" is also necessary so that children are not confused further about what has taken place. The parent must further explain that the death was not the child's fault because children commonly believe that something they did, said or thought might have caused the death. Please read here for some helpful information about common ways children might respond to death and how to help children cope with loss.