Archive

Dad using laptop with son watching on and daughter using tablet device.

Do children grieve differently to adults?

Although they will feel it just as deeply, children will experience and express grief in different ways to adults. The way children grieve will mostly depend on their age and understanding of death as well as their ability to talk about their thoughts and feelings. This can often make their reactions ...
Mother talking with daughter on the sofa

Talking to children and young people about suicide in the news

It is a sad fact that suicide rates are tragically on the rise in the UK. Stories are regularly reported in the media, widely communicated in person and across social media, resulting in exposure to sometimes quite distressing reports. When these sorts of events hit the news, it’s important to think ...
Small girl sat on the floor looking sad while her mum strokes her hair

Should children attend a funeral?

Some families believe that children should not attend a funeral. However, it can help them to begin to accept the reality of the death and also to be less scared. Children are usually more scared about what they don’t know than what they are allowed to be part of as ...
Asian mum on the phone with young child and laptop in front of her.

Preparing a child to attend a funeral

The involvement of children and young people in funerals and other rituals following a death will, of course, vary in families depending on their cultural and religious beliefs, but it can help children if they can see for themselves rather than let their imaginations run riot. From conversations with bereaved children ...
Child looking at adult

Talking about sudden death with children and young people

When someone in your life dies, feelings of grief can be overwhelming. These feelings may be even more difficult to handle if the death is sudden, traumatic or violent. There are many types of sudden death – it could be through an illness, an accident, murder, manslaughter or suicide. How might ...
Young child with SEND walking holding hands with two adults.

Do children with SEND understand death?

For a child with special educational needs and disabilities, their functional level of understanding (rather than actual chronological age) will be the biggest factor in how the child reacts to a death and what they will be able to understand. Knowing what children at different developmental stages understand about death ...
Teenage boy looking sad while listening to music

When someone in your family dies by suicide

It can feel hard to find the right words to talk about suicide. Why is this? Because every life lost to suicide is as unique as the person who died and what words feel right for one family often don’t feel right for another. Whether the death of their important ...
Choose a category