One of the most common questions that parents in my counseling private practice ask me is “How do I talk to my kids about…?” You can fill in the blank with really anything: divorce, death, loss, bullying, the differences between boys and girls, dating, sex, race, mental illness, terrorism, the list goes on.
I am sure we can all relate to losing a loved one, a pet or a favorite toy, and it can be just as hard for the adults if not harder, to cope with the loss as it is for the kids. For this reason, I am going to talk about how do we discuss death and loss with our children and what can we do to overcome it.
The first and most important thing we need to do when talking to our children about any difficult topic but especially about death and loss is to
I am sure we can all relate to losing a loved one, a pet or a favorite toy, and it can be just as hard for the adults if not harder, to cope with the loss as it is for the kids. For this reason, I am going to talk about how do we discuss death and loss with our children and what can we do to overcome it.
The first and most important thing we need to do when talking to our children about any difficult topic but especially about death and loss is to
- Name the loss. This is usually the most important, yet sometimes most difficult part for parents and caregivers. We tell ourselves that kids are too young to understand. Or we want to protect them and we tend to spare them the truth. However, it’s essential that we put into words our children’s experiences because words bind the anxiety associated with the unknown and eventually, provide a sense of relief.
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