 Helping Children Cope With Grief
(~~Back To Professional Grief Information~~)
- Be Available.
- Listen (with your ears, eyes, and heart).
- Touch appropriately ( a hug can say I care).
- Face your own feelings of loss and grief. Share them if you like.
- Be open and honest with feelings.
- Create an atmosphere of acceptance that invites questions, fosters confidence and love.
- Encourage expressions of grief ( talking, writing, yelling, painting, etc.).
- Provide appropriate places to express grief.
- Acknowledge the reality that grief hurts.
- Do not attempt to rescue the child or yourself from hurt. Work through the pain.
- Provide a quiet, private place for when the child needs to be alone.
- Understand that priorities change.
- What you think is important may not be considered by the child as such.
- Realize that grief causes difficulty in concentrating.
- Children often experience a shortened attention span and schoolwork is often affected.
- Do not isolate or insulate children from grief.
- Grief is a normal and natural reaction to loss of any kind.
- Understand that other losses often accompany the identified loss. A change in residence, caretaker, school, or peer group all add to the grief experience.
- Loss of trust often compounds grief.
- Try not to single out the grieving child for special privileges or compensations. He/She still needs to feel a part of their peer group and should be expected to function accordingly.
- Temper your expectations with kindness and understanding. Continue to expect function.
- Set realistic goals with the child concerning behavior, school performance and homework. Help the child create his own routines if necessary.
- Help the child find a supportive peer group.
- Help a child's friends learn to be supportive.
- Become a part of a caring team by establishing lines of communication with everyone involved with the child. Keep each other informed of the child's progress.
>>>Continued>>>
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