Talking to Kids About Death

Death and dying are hard and uncomfortable topics that will, unfortunately, most likely be ones that we need to discuss with our children.

So often we want to shield our children from the tough realities of death by hiding our own emotions, using vague language, or not bringing it up at all. But all this does is leave them confused and less likely to be able to handle death in a healthy way.

When discussing death and dying with your children, remember to:

-Use clear and concrete language
-Allow for and accept all emotions
-Be prepared to answer questions
-Explain death and dying in clear terms
-Expect death and dying to come up in your child’s play

Adding some books to your home library that address death and dying can be really helpful to start conversations with your children about death before you are in the midst of loss. It can be helpful to think about your own thoughts around death so that you can share these sentiments with your child.

For more on how to talk to young children about death and dying, head to the full blog post here.