Information
The Royal College of Psychiatrists: Death in the Family - Helping Children to Cope
How does a child respond to death?
When someone in the family dies, everyone is affected - including the children. We need to remember that children react very differently from adults. How they react depends on a number of factors:
- How close the person was to the child and the family is important. The death of a parent, brother or sister will be much more upsetting than the death of a more distant relative. A lot depends on how involved the dead person was in the daily life of the child and the family.
- The child's age and level of understanding and how the death affects their life in practical terms are very important. Infants may feel the loss mainly because it affects the way in which they are handled and their daily routine. They are very sensitive to the unhappy feelings of those around them and may become anxious, difficult to settle and more needy of attention. Pre-school children usually see death as temporary and reversible - a belief reinforced by cartoon characters who 'die' and 'come to life' again.
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Website: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/mentalhealthandgrowingup/15deathinthefamily.aspx
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