"Once in a generation, a book comes along that alters the way society views a topic. When Children Grieve is an essential primer for parents and others who interact with children on a regular basis." — Bernard McGrane, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Chapman University and U.C. Irvine The first—and definitive—guide to helping children really deal with loss from the authors of the The Grief Recovery Handbook Following deaths, divorces, pet loss, or the confusion of major relocation, many adults tell their children “don’t feel bad.” In fact, say the authors of the bestselling The Grief Recovery Handbook, feeling bad or sad is precisely the appropriate emotion attached to sad events. Encouraging a child to bypass grief without completion can cause unseen long-term damage. When Children Grieve helps parents break through the misinformation that surrounds the topic of grief. It pinpoints the six major myths that hamper children in adapting to life’s inevitable losses. Practical and compassionate, it guides parents in creating emotional safety and spells out specific actions to help children move forward successfully.

To watch a child grieve and not know what to do is a profoundly difficult experience for parents, teachers, and caregivers. Yet, there are guidelines for helping children develop a lifelong, healthy response to loss. In When Children Grieve, the authors offer a cutting-edge volume to free children from the false idea of "not feeling bad" and to empower them with positive, effective methods of dealing with loss. There are many life experiences that can produce feelings of grief in a child, from the death of a relative or a divorce in the family to more everyday experiences such as moving to a new neighborhood or losing a prized possession. No matter the reason or degree of severity, if a child you love is grieving, the guidelines examined in this thoughtful book can make a difference.

To watch a child grieve & not know what to do is one of the most difficult experiences for parents, teachers, & caregivers. This book offers guidelines for helping children develop a lifelong, healthy response to loss. This cutting-edge volume will help free children from the false idea that they shouldn't feel badÓ & will empower them with positive, effective methods of dealing with loss. There are many life experiences that can produce feelings of grief in a child, everything from the death of a relative or a divorce, to more everyday experiences such as moving to a new neighborhood, or losing a pet. Whatever the reason or the degree of severity, if a child you love is grieving, this book can help.

Based on the Hospice Foundation of America's second annual teleconference, this book explores three basic themes in children's grief. Firstly, it maintains that children are always developing; therefore their understanding of death and their reactions to illness and loss are also multifaceted and constantly undergoing change. Secondly, children grieve in ways that are both different from and similar to adults. While they may need different therapeutic approaches from their elders, each loss is different and the grief experience will be affected by many of the same factors that affect adults. Thirdly, it holds that they need significant support as they grieve.; Talking to children about loss and and illness is too important to wait until a crisis; rather, it is essential to provide opportunities to discuss loss in times that are not so Emotionally Laden. This Book Aims To Demonstrate That Open Communication between parents and children will lead to skills and understanding that are essential to the child for coping with loss and reaffirming that death is part of the process of living.

GIVE YOUR CHILDREN WHAT THEY NEED MOST When Julia Wilcox Rathkey lost her husband, her three children lost their father. Within hours, it became sharply clear that each child--a twelve-year-old daughter and twin ten-year-old sons--would grieve the loss in a radically different way. While one harbored anger, another experienced denial, and the third was gripped with fear. Rathkey quickly determined that each youngster would require a different response from the adults in their lives, particularly from her. But despite the array of emotions and reactions, Rathkey arrived at four essentials that each child would need: routine, love, honesty, and security. These four concepts, however simple, are crucial for those who want to successfully guide their children through one of the most difficult passages they may face in life: the loss of a loved one. What Children Need When They Grieve explores: • The scope of a child's reactions to death, including grief and fear • Advice on how to talk with your child, and how to recognize their need for privacy • What other adults can do to help, and what they should refrain from doing • Concise and to-the-point advice about your child's daily routine, at home and at school Written with compassion and the knowledge that comes from the experience of loss, designed not to overwhelm with too much information, and with an introduction by an expert in childhood bereavement, What Children Need When They Grieve offers strategies, support, and comfort for grieving families.

The authors share their own stories of loss and, based on their work at the Grief Recovery Institute, provide a set of guidelines for help.

Drawing upon extensive interviews and assessments of school-age children who have lost a parent to death, this book offers a richly textured portrait of the mourning process in children. The volume presents major findings from the Harvard Child Bereavement Study and places them in the context of previous research, providing insights on both the wide range of normal variation in children's experience of grief and the factors that put bereaved children at risk. The book also compares parentally bereaved children with those who have suffered loss of a sibling to death, or of a parent through divorce, exploring similarities and differences in these experiences of loss. A concluding section explores the clinical implications of the findings and includes a review of intervention models and activities, as well as a screening instrument designed to help identify high-risk bereaved children.

A concise guide that explains how to help one's child through grief during the first few days after a death, describing what to expect from children at different age levels from infant to teen, providing age-specific guidance on how to help a child cope, and discussing how to talk to the child about the funeral and wake or visitation.

First published in 1984. A common myth is that that young children (say around three years of age) do not understand death or give the death of friend, pet, brother, sister, parent, grandparent, other relative, or give it a Raggedy-Ann doll meaning. However, research has indicated that they do. If it is difficult for us to think about our death, it is the author’s hypothesis that to think of the death of our children is an even greater difficulty. We dread the thought of our children suffering pain, dying, and death. Similarly the thought of our children suffering grief is difficult for us to comprehend. Helping Children Cope With Grief is more universal to more than the area of grief and is a valuable tool for parents, teachers, and counselors when their goal is to develop happier, more loving children.

Parents, teachers, and other adults can learn through this concise and caring guide to how children and adolescents grieve after someone they love dies. Exploring the six reconciliation needs of mourning, this helpful resource recognizes that grieving children are especially deserving of an emotional environment of love and acceptance. Including a historical perspective on children and death, this handbook helps adults recognize the importance of empathy toward a grieving child, and provides guidelines for involving children in funeral services. These suggestions can help anyone who wants to help young people better cope with grief so that they can go on to become emotionally healthy adults themselves.