How to Talk with Grandchildren About Death and Dying

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Guide
Grief and Death
K - 2
3 - 5

This guide helps grandparents normalize conversations about death with grandchildren ages five to ten. It offers tips to respond to grandchildren’s questions about death in an age-appropriate way — with permission and guidance from the grandchildren’s parents or other caregivers. 

This is not a guide to mourning or the process of grieving. At the end, we provide resources for further information and services about the dying or death of a close family member. Other family members, educators, and anyone engaged with young children can also adapt the ideas for their own use.

We address the following topics:
1. Talking to Grandchildren About Death Without Fear
2. General Guidance when Talking with Children About Death
3. Ages and Stages
4. Visiting the Cemetery, Going to Funerals and Shiva
5. Ways to Remember
6. Resources

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This resource was created as part of the Shomer Collective Educator Fellowship, which was generously funded by the Covenant Foundation. For more Jewish wisdom and resources on death and dying, please visit shomercollective.org.

Terry Kaye

Terry Kaye is Associate Director and Director of Creative Partnerships at the Jewish Grandparents Network

Terry Kaye collaborates with Jewish organizations and expert individuals to create Jewish experiences, resources, and live events for grandparents. Terry partners with the Executive Director to manage many of JGN’s operations. She also moderates JGN’s private Facebook group of 17,000 members. Terry has worked in the field of Jewish education for 38 years, much of that time at Behrman House Publishers where she worked closely with educators nation-wide in her role as Director of Educational Services. She also wrote, edited, or project-managed over seventy Jewish education publications for children and adults. 

Details

Setting

  • Educator Training
  • Congregational Learning
  • Family Engagement

  • This resource is an Educator Contributed resource and is the intellectual property of the contributor.
  • --
  • If you believe this resource to be inappropriate in any way, please email us at educator@jewishedproject.org.

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