Support guide
How to help children cope with grief Each child is very different and will cope with grief in their own unique way. To best help children with grief the following guidelines are suggested: • Talk about the death whenever the child asks questions • Answer honestly and in exact terms the child can understand • Don’t say the person ‘went away’ – the child may feel abandoned or worry you might go away and not come back, when you have just gone shopping • Don’t say the person ‘went to sleep’ – the child may become afraid of going to sleep • Adequate information about a death and what has happened • Addressing fears and anxieties about who will care for them and about the safety of their surviving relatives • Reassurance they’re not to blame for the death • People to listen carefully to their fears and questions • Their individual feelings to be acknowledged and respected as valid • There are no silly questions • Listen, listen and listen some more
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