Description
One out of seven children will experience the death of a parent or sibling before the age of 25 and 90% of children will experience a significant loss before graduating high school. The statistics are sobering, but they also call for preparedness. Professionals and adults alike are often at a loss when supporting a grieving child. Talking to adults about death and grief is difficult; it's all the more challenging to talk to children and teens. The stakes are high: grieving children are high-risk for mental health adversities, including anxiety and depression. Yet, despite this, grieving kids can grow-up to become healthy adults. Supporting grieving children requires intentionality, open-communication, and patience. Rather than avoid conversations on death or pretend like it never happened, normalizing grief and offering support requires us to be in-tune with kids, engage in open dialogue, and create a nurturing environment as they grapple with questions of "how" and "why" someone has died. When listening to grieving children, we often have to embrace the mystery, offer love and compassion, and stick with the basics.