Children often struggle with the concept of terminal illness and death of a loved one. After all this is a tough topic for all of us. For a child with limited understanding and coping skills it becomes even more challenging.
When Jarrods Grandpa Died; gives children a concrete description of the terminal illness, death and funeral process. It excludes terms such as sleeping peacefully, gone to a better place, taken to heaven or became a new star. These terms are nice and can be an explanation but they may also result in confusion and create an expectation for the person to return or re-awaken. It can also set up a fear of sleep or God due to the worry of dying also.
Such terms can be used with children but I encourage you to take care if you chose to do so.
I have also excluded religious labels and symbols so as to maintain a neutral story line to cater for all. Your personal beliefs can of course be shared and included in conversation and during story telling with your child.
Involving children in the process of viewing the deceased is always a controversial issue. In fact this can be a very important part of acceptance for your child. By seeing and touching the deceased person; death becomes less of a mystery, a child processes the world around them with all of their senses. To allow them to see and touch their loved deceased person they are able to begin processing the finality of death in the difference they see and feel.
Death is hard for us all, grief is not a comfortable process, but we all need to go through grief when somebody we love dies. If a person is worth loving and caring about then they are worth grieving for. Our grief is our expression of love for those who have died and left us. It is my hope, that this book will allow your child’s grieving process occur a little easier and with less confusion.
樂天KOBO
