To be human is to know loss, and indeed, the more fully human we are, the more loss we will know and the deeper we will feel the losses; for the more we love and care, the more we have to lose. All the things to which we become attached are transient; they pass; they decay; they die. And when we lose someone or something we love, our response is grief. Grief is difficult to handle because it is not one emotion but many–sadness, depression, bewilderment, despair, helplessness, loneliness, emptiness, meaninglessness, and probably guilt. All of these are common to grief. We experience them in varying degrees of intensity according to the importance of our loss, and we experience them in no particular order or pattern. As parents, we want to be able to help our children navigate the experience of losing a loved one, animal or human.
Talking to your child about death