CHILD GRIEF ELABORATION: HOW TO COMMUNICATE THE LOSS TO CHILDREN

Abstract

Death is an inevitable moment for human beings, which everyone will go through one day. Consequently, during life, it is normal to experience the death of other people, often dear to the individual who loses them. Experiencing the loss of someone almost always means going through a grieving process, which usually brings up negative feelings and suffering. In the case of children, it is no different: grief is present in the childhood of many but is often neglected by adults who do not see them as capable of processing such a complex situation. Therefore, this article seeks to understand the best way to communicate a child, aged between 5 and 7 years old, the death of a dear family member, as well as the necessity of encouraging the child mourning process. In this way, both theoretical research on the subject and interviews with professionals and people who closely followed the grief of a relative or went through grief during childhood were carried out. Finally, the importance of this research is based on the possibility of producing theoretical support capable of raising the awareness of parents and guardians to adequately communicate the loss to the child and the protection of the mental health of individuals at the end of the preoperative stage, defined by Piaget.