Children & the Grieving Process
Adapted from the National Association of School Psychologists
It is very difficult for all of us to face the death of a young person, and it can generate a high level of anxiety and distress in our children. Your child may be affected by a death even if they didn’t know the person who passed away. We encourage you to talk with your child. Discussing thoughts and feelings about death is important in helping your child work through a difficult situation.
If you feel your child needs to speak with a guidance counselor, social worker or another adult, please contact the school main office and we will connect you with someone to provide immediate assistance.
Talking to children about death
Some things in life are especially hard to deal with…and hard to talk about…for adults as well as for children. It seems that the hardest ones involve loss. While most of the time, going away is followed by coming back, there are times when it’s not. When a loss is permanent, children can have a lot of anger and sadness about a person or a beloved pet being taken away from them.
The grieving process
Grief is the internal response we experience when we lose someone or something that we care about. The best way we as adults can help a child is to encourage the child to express his or her feelings and questions. A child needs reassurance that someone will be there to support them. Children need to feel included in what is happening in the situation. It is generally best to avoid non-essential separations at this time.
Whenever possible, maintain a sense of routine for your child. The predictability is something that can be counted on during this time when other routines have been disrupted. If possible, include in your child’s daily routine a place or time to talk about the day and ask questions. Provide simple answers, give a short description and listen for questions behind the questions. Consider the age of your child and where he or she is developmentally. Remember that the crisis is reprocessed from time to time. New questions can arise at every stage.
Tips for speaking with young people about death
- Be honest. It is not an easy subject for anyone. If you are upset also, do not be afraid to admit it. Model the fact that being upset is okay, and totally normal.
- Use clear language. Trying to avoid the word “death” by using phrases such as “your loss” and “gone to a better place” can frustrate older children and confuse younger children.
- Expect questions, but don’t feel pressured to provide immediate answers. Death often brings up many questions for us all. Some of these may seem straightforward while other may be more complex. If there are questions that you are unable to answer, feel able to say so, and promise to look into providing an answer at a later point.
- Recognize that every death and every reaction to it is unique. The way in which a child reacts to a death is dependent upon their relationship with the person who died, the time of death in the child’s development, the nature of the death, the child’s understanding of death, their support network and many other factors.
- Don’t assume anything. Ask the child how he or she feels, rather than projecting feelings that you might expect them to have.
- Moving on. Expect children (especially younger ones) to “move on” fairly quickly. As adults, we tend to remain in a feeling or thought for a lot longer than children. If we are sad and reflective, we may be so for many hours. Children may be distraught one moment and then the next, need to ask what is for lunch, or express annoyance that it is raining outside. Although this behavior may seem surprising, it is completely normal.
- Try to normalize the feelings that a bereaved young person shares with you. They are probably very worried that they are the only person who has ever felt this way. Assure them that feelings of anger, fatigue, fear, worry, stress, sadness, exhaustion, guilt, anxiety, frustration, loneliness, lack of focus, etc., are all a normal reaction to grief.
Children and reactions to death
A child’s need to ask the same questions about death over and over is more of a need for reassurance that the story has not changed rather than a need for factual accuracy. Children also seek adult reactions so they can gauge their own reactions. Emotions may be expressed as angry outbursts or misbehaviors that are often not recognized as grief related.
Developmental phases and understanding death
- Ages 5-9: These ages are when children begin to understand the finality of death. Death is seen as an accident rather than inevitable. Death is often seen as something that will happen to others not to ourselves.
- Ages 10-12: Children have the mental development and emotional security to express an understanding of death as a final and inevitable event.
- Adolescents (Ages 13-18): By the time children reach middle school, they probably understand death as well as adults. They understand it is permanent and happens to everyone eventually. Teens spend much of their time thinking, daydreaming, and philosophizing about death. They are often fascinated with death and fantasize about their own death to the dismay of their parents. They imagine their own funeral, for example, who will come, how badly people will feel, and how people will wish they had been nicer to them when they were alive. Even with this preoccupation with death, they can feel immune to it and engage in death-challenging behaviors such as reckless driving or drinking or taking drugs.
Common reactions for all students
- Anxious/fearful
- Sad
- Lonely/vulnerable
- Guilty
- Angry
- Confused/scared
- Withdrawn
- Act aggressively
- Poor attention span/lower grades
- Act like it never happened
- Nightmares/sleep disturbance
- Appetite changes (over or under eating)
Suggestions and support for parents
- Answer and encourage questions about illness, death, divorce, disaster, hospitals, etc.
- Encourage children to talk about their feelings. Use reflective listening. (Reflective listening involves verbally restating in your own words the feelings and information you heard the other person saying to you. It can help the person clarify their thoughts and feelings.)
- Share your grief reaction in order to normalize theirs.
- Read books about death/loss/divorce, etc.
- Encourage physical activities and play.
- Maintain routine and provide good nutritional and sleep patterns.
- Give hope. Children need to know they will enjoy life again.
- Talk about the person who died/the loss in everyday conversation.