Losing a loved one for the first time is a challenging experience for a child to process, and they’ll need you to be there for them before and after the funeral services for support. Loss can be painful to go through with a child, and helping them through the grieving process will make it easier for them. Below are a few ideas on how to help them grieve and offer support.

How To Help Your Child Cope With Grief

1. Make Yourself Available To Them

You may be busy arranging funeral services or contacting friends and family, but make your child a priority and stay close by. They may have questions about death or may want to spend more time with you, even if they don’t talk about the loved one that has passed. Let them know you’re there if they want to speak to you, but otherwise maintain your routine and spend as much time around them as possible in case they need you.

2. Encourage Them To Talk About Their Feelings

Expressing their emotions can help them process what they are feeling and how it’s impacting their life, and it opens the way for an honest conversation about loss and what it means. Reading children’s books about loss and grief will let them understand some of their emotions and may prompt them to talk to you about them. If they do open up to you, listen to them, validate their feelings, and don’t try to rush the conversation.

3. Be Honest

Trying to hide things about the process, your own emotions, or what death means will complicate their feelings of grief and confuse them, as well as lead to them distrusting you. If they ask questions, give answers that are appropriate for their age and development while still being honest. 

4. Prepare Them for the Funeral

Some children may not want to attend the funeral service or memorial service, and if they don’t, don’t make them. If they're going to go, make sure they’re prepared. Let them know it’s a serious event, so they’ll need to behave and be quiet, but that it’s okay to cry if they want to. Tell them that other people may be crying, too, because they miss your loved one and are grieving, just like your child is. If there will be a casket, especially an open casket, talk to them beforehand about what it is and decide if you’ll allow them to attend the viewing.

Are you trying to plan respectful funeral services for your loved one? Gilligan Funeral Homes in Cincinnati, OH, has been providing poignant, affordable funeral, burial, cremation, and memorial services for over a century. Their compassionate funeral home will support you through every step, and you can opt to have the funeral or memorial at the location of your choosing, like a church or cemetery. They also offer grief support services that will help you and your child cope. View some of their grief resources online, and call (513) 891-8373 today to begin planning.