Tips on talking to children about grief
We recently asked our online community if they had any tips for talking to children about coping with grief and loss. We were delighted to see so many people responding with their advice; here are some words of wisdom that we hope will help those in need:
“Open-ness, honesty and keeping my Mum’s memory alive, with lots of photos around the home, talking of her in the present, reminding each other of the things that she loved and the things we love about her, helps. Knowing that nanny is a twinkly star in the sky every night brings us some comfort and keeps her memory alive.” – Sarah
“Be honest and keep talking about their fond memories. Look at pictures and make sure they know it’s ok to talk about them, cry and laugh.” – Emma
“Recently I suggested the child wrote letters to the very close relative they had lost. Then put into a memory box, And then there is the opportunity to refer too either personally or with their children/family.” – Jenny
“We have used a memory jar.. and some evenings we just pick one out starts a nice conversation.” – AnneMarie
“We lost my husbands gran & my parents cat on the same day. We were due to put up our Xmas tree that night so bought 2 special decorations for them to put on the tree in their memory.” – Susan
“Honesty works for us since we lost my Husband. We send birthday/xmas/soecial occasion cards and letters/drawings to Daddy by burning them in a metal bucket in Daddys corner of our garden.” – Paula
If you’re struggling to cope and need to talk to a member of our Patient & Family Support team, please call 01293 447343
