Comforting A Child Who's Experiencing Pet Loss Grief

by editor - July 28th, 2012.
Filed under: Uncategorized.

Bringing a pet at home is usually a decision that parents make in order to make their children happy. For many kids, pets are not just playmates. Rather they are creatures that can make them happy, teach them how to be responsible, relieve them of daily pressures and overall serve as their good friends. Given this, there is no doubt that kids spend more time with pets than any other members of the household. Hence, children are likely to experience pet loss grief with the death of a pet. As a parent, you are probably dealing with the challenge of helping your kids cope up from the loss. This is so because you know for yourself that you are also having a hard time coping up. But since you are the adult, you have to take it upon yourself to give your kids some extra help.

In this regard, parents should remember the importance of patience. Children have the tendency to bring up the topic repeatedly so be patient. Other than this, you should allow your children to work through their grief. Don?t stop them from showing their grief and let them see you express your feelings as well. Always make sure that when you talk about what happened, you do it with all honesty. Also similar to what Christian counseling experts would tell you, talk about death and grief in terms children understand. Don?t use words like God took the pet or the pet is just asleep. These can result to kids developing fears like fear that God will take them or their loved ones and fear of sleeping. It is also recommended that your children be involved in all the activities following the death of the pet. Give them permission to participate in the burial service. Listen to their ideas in case they would have something to contribute to the memorial service. If in any case a child doesn?t want to join the service, let him have that liberty as well.

Also, part of your pursuit to help your child recover is to educate him about the permanency of death. Further, don?t commit the mistake of immediately getting another pet to replace the lost one. This can make a child feel disloyal and give him the wrong impression that grief can be overcome simply by buying a replacement for what was lost. Even while pet loss grief cannot be considered as serious as substance abuse counseling, it has to be done with caution too. Trying to educate yourself on how you can do it well can contribute a lot to your recovery and your kids? recovery, most importantly. As always, be patient and never forget to hug and reassure your kids.

Source: http://www.ajidokoro-ando.com/comforting-a-child-whos-experiencing-pet-loss-grief/

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