How do you talk to you kids about death and dying? What do you do about funerals? How do you help them cope? This episode answers all these questions and more, trying to help us support our kids during really challenging times.

Kids cannot fully understand death and its finality until they are 8 or 9 years old. This makes it difficult for them to process death and react in ways that feel appropriate to us as adults.

To help kids with death:

1. Be completely honest 
2. Don't try to control their response
3. Be prepared for it to take a long time
4. Let them create a memory or memorial
5. Give them choice, whenever possible

You need to be willing to answer all the questions your kids have about death or the person who died. You also need to respect their communication that they cannot tolerate additional information, and understand information may need to be shared in small doses.

Our kids will not have the same reaction to losing a loved one as we do as adults. This is largely based on their level of relationship, how often they see them, how old they are, etc. 

Around here, we would never force a child to attend a funeral if they didn't want to go.
If they are going to go, prep them for what they're going to see - open casket, family, etc. You can come up with a plan for them to leave if they get overwhelmed. 

It's ok to share out emotions with our kids. They can see us crying or upset, and trying to convince them that's not true can be really confusing and make it hard for them to learn to express their own emotions.  Death and Loss cannot be made better. They're hard. Instead of trying to make it go away, we instead can teach them to get through it and find their own way of grieving.

Subscribe, rate, and review us on Podchaser, Apple, or wherever you listen to podcasts!

Follow us on social media to join the conversation!!!
Facebook
Instagram