How to Help Your Kids Through Grief and Loss

Loss is an unfortunate part of life. While we want to protect children from such a devastating thing, some are introduced to it well before we want them to be. If your family has recently suffered a loss, your children may not take it well. It can be difficult to manage the situation.

Here are some tips on how to help your kids through grief and loss.

Talk to Your Kids

Death can be very confusing for a child. It’s a good idea to sit down and talk with them about what happened. Allow them to ask all of the scary questions they may be wondering. While it may not be a particularly fun conversation, it is a way to teach your children about death first hand. Remember, your child’s imagination can often be much worse than the reality you have to explain.

You should also talk about the deceased and answer questions about their life. Even though the person is no longer on this earth, they are still in memories. Allow your loved one to live on through these conversations. Most importantly, answering your children’s questions will help them feel greater closure regarding their loss.

Maintain a Positive Disposition

After a death in the family, you are likely grieving yourself. However, you need to keep a strong upper chin for the kids. Even through the viewing at the funeral home, you should do your best to stay positive and friendly for the kids. They will mimic your behavior, so you don’t want them to see you struggle. Save your grief for when you are with the adults.

Turn to Religion

Whether you believe in organized religion or not, religion is a great way to find some strength during these difficult times. It can be great for children to learn about heaven, reincarnation, or whatever afterlife you believe in. It can offer them some peace that the person they loved is on to a better life. Also, the people at your church can be a great support.

Get Counseling

If a death affects a child deeply, they should get grief counseling to help them sort out their feelings. While you have the best intentions, a professional is trained with the best ways to get children to open up and then deal with their emotions.

Grief can be a difficult topic, but you can’t protect your children forever. This is especially true when someone close to them passes away. These tips can help your child view the situation in a healthy way.

By Anita Ginsberg

Anita is a freelance writer from Denver, CO. She studied at Colorado State University and now writes articles about health, business, family, and finance. A mother of two, she enjoys traveling with her family whenever she isn’t writing. When planning services for your loved ones, she recommends consulting with a funeral home like Damar Kaminski Funeral Home & Crematorium. You can find her on Twitter @anitaginsburg.”You can follow her on Twitter @anitaginsburg.