Death and dying is a natural and unavoidable process that all living creatures will experience at some point in life, whether it is one’s own person death or the death of a close friend or family member. Along with the experience of death comes the process of grieving which is the dealing and coping with the loss of the loved one. Any living thing can grieve and relate to a loss, even children (Shortle, Young, & Williams, 1993). “Childhood grief and mourning of family and friends may have immediate and long-lasting consequences including depression, anxiety, social withdrawal, behavioral disturbances, and school underachievement” (Kaufman & Kaufman, 2006, p. 61). American children today grow up in cultures that attempt to avoid grief and deny inevitability of death (Shortle, Young, & Williams, 1993). Irreversibility, finality, inevitability, and causality are the four factors relative to a child’s understanding of death. These four components are relative to a child’s developmental level at the death is occurs (Willis, 2002).
According to Andrews and Marotta (2005), “the level of development has direct bearing on how children conceptualize and cope with death” (p. 39). There are four factors relative to the perception of a child’s death. The first being irreversibility. During irreversibility, children do not understand that death cannot be reversed, and it is even harder for one to understand death when one has never experienced it before. Finality is the second factor, it is not understood by children that it is final and cannot be fixed or reversed (Kaufman & Kaufman, 2006). Children easy get confused with time, and how it changes throughout the day, the month, the year, and even seasons, therefore it is even harder for o...
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...., & Kaufman, N.D. (2006). And then the dog died. Death Studies, 30, 61-76.
Kirst-Ashman, K.K. & Hull, G.H., Jr. (2006). Understanding generalist practice. (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson.
Perry, B.D. (2001). Death and loss: Helping children manage their grief. Early Childhood Today,15(4), 22-23.
Shorle, C.N., Young, P.A., & Williams, M.A. (1993). Understanding death and grief for children three and younger. Social Works, 38(6), 736-740.
Wass, H. (2003). A perspective on the current state of death education. Death Studies, 28, 298-308.
Willis, C.A. (2002). The grieving process in children: Strategies for understanding, educating and reconciling children’s perceptions of death. Early Childhood Education Journal, 29(4), 221-226.
Zastrow, C. & Kirst-Ashman, K.K. (2007). Understanding human behavior and the social environment. (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson.
In the fictional story of The Dead Child the teacher is informed by the children that one of her pupils passed away the night before, in the children’s minds this is something that occurs frequently. We can assume from the story that it takes place when Tuberculosis was rampant in Canada, isolation had a large impact on the mortality rate because of the lack of access to medical services. Isolation also had a large impact on how the teacher and classmates dealt with the death. The
Zastrow, C. H., & Krist-Ashman, K. K. (2013). Understanding Human Behavior and the Social Environment (9 ed.). Belmont:
Kids are more afair of death than adults are. Kids do not underdstand death like adults. In one of our class discussions , Dr. Bradshaw told our class a story about how he went to Yale New Haven hospital (I think) and Dr. Bradshaw stated that a young boy who was a terminal cancer patient drew him a picture of a tank going after him. When Dr. Bradshaw told our class this , it was then clear to me that a child does not understand death as well as adults. But there are also ways a parent can help a child with breavement like buying the child a pet and when that pet dies, explain to the kid whay the pet died and that it can not be replaced. “childeren are capeable of experiencing greif” (DeSpilder 359). Childeren tend to be more quiet when dealing with a death of someone close. Childeren like to forget the sight of a dead one and try and move on without talking to anyone.
In 1969 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a psychiatrist, published the Pioneering book On Death and Dying. The work acquainted the world with the grieving process, called the five stages of grief. Kübler-Ross gathered her research from studying individuals with terminal cancer (Johnson, 2007). The first stage of the grieving process is denial. In this stage the person refuses to believe that their loved one is deceased, a common thought during this period is, “This can’t be happening to me” (Johnson, 2007).The second stage of the grieving process is anger. In this level the person becomes frustrated with their circumstances, a customary complaint is “Why is this happening to me?” (Johnson, 2007). The third stage of the grieving process is bargaining. At this point the individual hopes that they can prevent their grief, this typically involves bartering with a higher power, and an ordinary observance during this time is “I will do anything to have them back” (Johnson, 2007). The fourth and most identifiable stage of grief is depression. This phase is habitually the lengthiest as...
D1: I have decided to look at a 6 year old going through bereavement. Bereavement means to lose an individual very close to you. When children go through bereavement they are most likely to feel sad and upset about the person’s death. Children at a young age may not understand when a family member dies. Children may not understand bereavement. For example a 6 year old’s father been in a car crash and has died from that incident. Death is unpredictable and children can’t be prepared for a death of a family member as no one knows when someone is going to die or not. Unfortunately every child can experience bereavement even when a pet dies. It is important that we are aware that effects on the child so we can support them in the aftermath.
Zastrow, C., & Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2007). Understanding human behavior and the social environment. Australia; U.S.A.: Thomson Brooks/Cole.
children faced with the trauma of loss, they are also faced with a myriad of other
Dealing with a grieving adolescent is hard, but as with most human beings, the loss is
The piece I selected for children to understand death, dying and bereavement is the book called The Giant by Claire Ewart. The book strengths provide a security for the griever by comforting them that a loved one will always be there for them. The weakness is not detailing on ways to cope when someone close to you passes away. I believe the appropriate age group for this book ranges from 6 years to 10 years old. The book specifies a mother that passed away; however, the book can be interpreted to anyone important in the child’s life. The validation in this book shows the child who has lost a loved one as they come is to recognize that the “Giant” are those people who are constantly there for us because they love us. Some of the limitations
I have felt the pain of the loss of a Sister; have felt the pain of the death of my Mother, and felt the death of my Father. I know how it feels. I experienced it. It is painful, looking at those old kind folks who bore you; who took care of you; went through all kinds of sacrifices and pains just to look after you for years and years, until one day the child stood on one’s own two feet, and then … there they are, the parents, helpless and lifeless in front of you.
Everyone has or will experience a loss of a loved one sometime in their lives. It is all a part of the cycle of life and death. The ways each person copes with this loss may differ, but according to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s novel On Death and Dying, a person experiences several stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and, finally, acceptance. There is no set time for a person to go through each stage because everyone experiences and copes with grief differently. However, everyone goes through the same general feelings of grief and loss. There are also sections in Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” that connect to the process of grieving: “On Pain,” “On Joy and Sorrow,” and “On Talking.” Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” reflects on Kübler-Ross’s model of the different stages of grief and loss.
Zastrow, Charles, and Karen Kay Ashman. Understanding human behavior and the social environment. 2nd ed. Chicago: Nelson-Hall Publishers, 1990. Print.
Zastrow, C., & Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2013). Understanding human behavior and the social environment. Australia: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.
Grief can be defined as the natural reaction to loss. Grief is both a universal and personal experience (Mayo Clinic, 2014). Individual experiences of grief vary and are influenced by the nature of the loss (Mayo Clinic, 2014). There are multiple different theories that have attempted to explain the complex process of grief and loss. Theorists such as Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, William Worden and John Bowbly explain in their theories how they believe an individual deals with the grieving process. In this essay, I will be focusing on William Worden’s theory and will be discussing the process for a child aged nine to eleven.
Losing a child is one of the most traumatic events a person can ever experience. This life changing experience is very difficult for parents to cope with. Grief is something we all experience as human beings; we will all lose someone that we love in our lifetime. We all go through the five stages of grief denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and last being acceptance (Bolden, 2007). However, this is arguably not the case for parents who experience the death of a child. Although, parents who have experienced...