Category: Early Childhood Development

Boys and men have long been expectedto grieve differently from girls —to be stoic, to be strong, to moveon quickly. Research on grief andgender consistently finds that theseexpectations are both inaccurate andharmful — that boys grieve as deeplyas girls, but that they frequentlygrieve differently, and that the differencesrequire specific understanding andspecific support approaches. This article…

Grief in girls and young women hasdistinctive features that researchconsistently identifies — featuresthat reflect both the developmentalexperience of being female and thesocial and cultural context in whichgirls grieve. Understanding thesefeatures — and what helps most —is practically important for parentssupporting a grieving daughter. This article covers what the researchshows about grief in girls — whatis…

Teachers are frequently the adultsoutside the family who spend the mosttime with bereaved children — andresearch consistently finds that teachersupport significantly affects how wellchildren cope with grief at school.Yet teachers often feel unpreparedfor this role — uncertain about whatto say, worried about making thingsworse, and unsure how to balance supportingthe grieving child with meeting theneeds…

Most children who experience significantloss move through grief in healthyways — given adequate support. Butresearch consistently finds that asignificant proportion of bereavedchildren develop complicated grief —a grief response that is more intense,more prolonged, or more impairingthan typical grief, and that requiresprofessional support to resolve. Recognizingthe signs of complicated grief accurately —and seeking professional support whenindicated…

School is one of the most challengingenvironments for a grieving child —requiring sustained attention, socialengagement, and emotional regulationat precisely the time when all threeare most difficult. Research on childhoodgrief and school functioning consistentlyfinds that grief significantly affectsacademic performance, peer relationships,and school engagement — and that proactive,coordinated support between home andschool significantly improves outcomesfor bereaved children.…

One of the most common questions parentsand caregivers ask about childhoodgrief is whether there is a particularage at which grief is hardest — adevelopmental stage that makes lossparticularly devastating. Researchon childhood bereavement providesa nuanced and practically importantanswer — finding that each developmentalstage brings its own specific griefchallenges, and that the factors thatmake grief harder or…

Explaining grief to a child is oneof the most challenging conversationsparents face — made more difficultby the fact that adults are oftengrieving themselves, uncertain aboutwhat to say, and worried about sayingthe wrong thing. Research on childhoodgrief and communication provides specific,evidence-based guidance about howto explain grief to children in waysthat are honest, age-appropriate, and genuinely helpful.…

The death of a pet is frequently achild’s first experience of significantloss — and one that adults often minimizein ways that research finds genuinelyunhelpful. Research on pet loss andchildhood grief consistently findsthat children’s grief for pets isreal, significant, and deserving ofgenuine support — not dismissal orimmediate replacement. This article covers what the researchshows about helping…

The idea that grief follows predictablestages — denial, anger, bargaining,depression, acceptance — is one ofthe most widely known and most frequentlymisapplied concepts in grief psychology.Research on childhood grief has movedsignificantly beyond the original stagemodel — finding that children’s griefis more fluid, more individual, andmore complex than any simple stageframework suggests. This article covers what the…

Knowing what to say to a child whohas lost a parent is one of the mostchallenging communication tasks adultsface. The instinct to comfort — tosay something that will make the painless — frequently leads to well-intentionedresponses that research finds unhelpfulor actively harmful. Understandingwhat children who have lost a parentmost need to hear — and what…