Role Of Death In Children

As stated above, children first begin to understand a few aspects of death surprisingly early on, but the question is how often do the parents know what their children understand about death? It is thought that parents and adults believe that children do not know anything about death; Dr. Vianello and Dr. Lucamante worked together to research what parents and pediatricians think a child understands about death. The investigation began with thirty pediatricians, fifteen men and fifteen women, as well as thirty parents, fifteen males and fifteen females. All of the pediatricians and parents were around the same age. The sixty adults were asked for their thoughts in various areas. One, how and when does a child develop a correct understanding …show more content…
The most comforting person to tell a child that someone is dying is their parent, the parent would know the child the best and then would be able to comfort the child as necessary. If the dying person is able to tell the child, that is even better. That would allow the child to talk directly to the person and express the feelings and emotions that wish. It is important that the news of death comes from a trusted, close adult. Otherwise the child may have a hard time believing the news and will refuse to begin grieving until they hear it from someone more credible in their eyes. The other question of how to tell the child of the death should first begin with informing the child that they are not alone, that you and other adults are there to support and help them. Hugging or holding the hand of the child while this is said can help bring some of the much needed comfort, as well as personal statements about the situation. Sentences like, you know that grandma has gone to the hospital many times the last few months, or you have noticed that daddy has been staying in bed a lot more now, can help ease your way into a conversation and the child can begin to understand why the person died. These kinds of opening sentences can lead the child to their own observations about what is occurring and aide the child in thinking that they can figure out what is happening, rather than being blind-sided by the information you are about to give them. If a death arises without any warning the best way to tell a child is in the most straightforward way as possible. For example, daddy was at fighting a fire, but this time the building came down, and he died. Being straightforward may cause the child to become hyperaware of the death around them, the best way to assure the child is to tell them that they still have a long life ahead of them and what happened was a rare accident (Jewett,