Grief & Loss: A Child's Perspective

Children from ages 4 to 12 who have experienced the death of a loved one share their feelings in this coping guide aimed at caregivers. The interviews are grouped into various grief-related topics, each of which is introduced by a narrator who provides background information and strategies for assisting young people in processing their emotions. Exploring the subjects of death, funerals, and grieving, Grief & Loss offers specific techniques for comforting infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary-age children. The interviewees here share their feelings about death and talk about how they and their families are coping. The children's reactions are diverse: from an overcome middle-school-aged boy struggling to hold back tears, to a younger girl who calmly talks about her family's surprise that she is content to play as usual and not visibly shaken by the change in their lives. Although brief, the program covers many different situations and reactions, which should prove valuable to adults struggling to comfort a grieving child. Recommended. [Note: the companion title Illness in the Family: Children Confronting Uncertainty is also newly available.] Aud: P. (K. Cruver)