Employing play-based techniques, a children's mental health specialist helps parents identify and express different feelings to help their grieving child cope. Includes tips on how to notice different types of play and respond accordingly, healthy ways to communicate with their child, and ways to recognize the signs of true healing in their child.

A compassionate resource for friends, parents, relatives, teachers, volunteers, and caregivers, this series offers suggestions to help the grieving cope with the loss of a loved one. Often people do not know what to say—or what not to say—to someone they know who is mourning; this series teaches that the most important thing a person can do is listen, have compassion, be there for support, and do something helpful. This volume addresses what to expect from grieving young people, and how to provide safe outlets for children to express emotion. Included in each book are tested, sensitive ideas for “carpe diem” actions that people can take right this minute—while still remaining supportive and honoring the mourner’s loss.

Study looks at being a positive adult example for boys and girls.

Renowned author and educator Alan Wolfelt redefines the role of the grief counselor in this guide for caregivers to grieving children. Providing a viable alternative to the limitations of the medical establishment’s model for companioning the bereaved, Wolfelt encourages counselors and other caregivers to aspire to a more compassionate philosophy in which the child is the expert of his or her grief—not the counselor or caregiver. The approach outlined in the book argues against treating grief as an illness to be diagnosed and treated but rather for acknowledging it as an event that forever changes a child's worldview. By promoting careful listening and observation, this guide shows caregivers, family members, teachers, and others how to support grieving children and help them grow into healthy adults.

First published in 1984. A common myth is that that young children (say around three years of age) do not understand death or give the death of friend, pet, brother, sister, parent, grandparent, other relative, or give it a Raggedy-Ann doll meaning. However, research has indicated that they do. If it is difficult for us to think about our death, it is the author’s hypothesis that to think of the death of our children is an even greater difficulty. We dread the thought of our children suffering pain, dying, and death. Similarly the thought of our children suffering grief is difficult for us to comprehend. Helping Children Cope With Grief is more universal to more than the area of grief and is a valuable tool for parents, teachers, and counselors when their goal is to develop happier, more loving children.

This guidebook presents 35 simple and practical suggestions for supporting a child who is grieving. Drawn from stories, suggestions and insight shared by children and their family members at Dougy Center: The National Grief Center for Children & Families, this book explores behaviors and reactions of children at different ages and stages of development; outlets for children to safely express their thoughts and feelings; and ways to be supportive during difficult times, such as a memorial service, anniversary or holiday.

Parents, teachers, and other adults can learn through this concise and caring guide to how children and adolescents grieve after someone they love dies. Exploring the six reconciliation needs of mourning, this helpful resource recognizes that grieving children are especially deserving of an emotional environment of love and acceptance. Including a historical perspective on children and death, this handbook helps adults recognize the importance of empathy toward a grieving child, and provides guidelines for involving children in funeral services. These suggestions can help anyone who wants to help young people better cope with grief so that they can go on to become emotionally healthy adults themselves.