Talking to kid about death of a grandparent?
Any advice on how to talk to a six year old about a grandparent's passing? Any books or media that may help them understand and process? Anything we should or shouldn't say?
Unfortunately this grandparent lives overseas, which means we were not able to visit very often these last few months. However, our child has spent several months a year with this grandparent. We know this event will affect our child.
Sep 24, 2024
Parent Replies
Six is old enough to understand a lot than we sometimes think. When my husbands mom died our daughter was younger but we talked about how we can remember her by sharing memories and we made a special art drawing of a memory we had together. There’s a painting that hangs in my daughters room which her grandmother painted and when we look at it we talk about her and remember her. She understood that we can feel sad when someone dies and we miss them…that we won’t see them anymore in person but their spirit lives on in our memories of them. With day of the dead approaching that can be a time to create a special collection to remember her with small objects or art to remember her by and some flowers. Or perhaps on her birthday you could do something special to remember her.
Annie and the old one is a good book, about a grandparent but also more generally good.
I recommend “Until We Meet Again” by Susan Jones. It’s out of print, but used copies are not too hard to find.
My daughter was 2 when my dad died, and they had spent alot of time together. Books help. I asked the hospice team for recommendations. I got "Something very sad happened" by Bonnie Zucker, but i think it's more for toddlers. Check it out, though. Tear soup was also recommended. I'm sorry for your loss. It's so hard.
A book that I liked was I’ll Be The Water by Alec Aspinwall. It is about a boy and his grandfather and the process he goes through once his grandfather has died. It’s a very lovely book that I felt very comforted by after the death of my dad a couple years ago.
I’m very sorry for your loss. Usborne has a good book on this called “why do things die?” It helps explain the basics of death that are an important grounding for young kids (what does die mean, what kinds of things can die, what causes them to die, etc.) but also touches on the cultural and emotional aspects (what happens to people after they die, different ways people commemorate the dead, what feelings you might experience, etc).