Children+Understanding+Death

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Exposure to Death

To the right is an example of a video clip where death is involved from the Lion King, a popular children's movie. Discussing the topic of death with children is a tricky situation. There is this idea that, children are too fragile, and sensitive, to properly process the concept of death without being traumatized. However, research shows that children know more about death as a biological function than their parent’s predict. Due to the constant exposure in movies, literature, games, and personal experiences, the conversation surfaces with families when a child is about 3 years old. Up to 75% of parents discuss death with their children at a young age. Another study shows that although death is brought up regularly in the family, 75% of parents still attempt to keep their children from movies and television shows that offer representations of death.

A Child's Perception

Qualitative evidence collected such as drawings, and conversations, provide a more eerie look into to a child’s perception of death. As you can see to the above, when children were asked to draw death, vivid imagery portrayed an accurate picture of the dark and dismal connotations society generally associates with mortality. In conversation, grieving children will often question the finality of death, where the deceased is located, and if the death is their own fault.

Religeous Explanation

In one study on how parents discuss death with their children, 60% of parents used religious or spiritual references, and 58% mentioned life after death. However, only about 25% of the participants mentioned the irreversibility and universality of death to their children. This can lead children to a competent spiritual understanding, but a lack of biological, real life understanding. WIthout a biological understanding of death children may become confused after the death of a loved one. Mourning in Children

Confronting death in life is inevitable and would be best handled if one has already processed the concept. That being said, children deserve an accurate portrayal of death and need it in order to function properly in today's society. Without a clear understanding of death, children may form unhealthy mourning habits such as, appetite loss, anxiety, seclusion, fatigue, sleep disorders and more. To avoid this, diligent intervening on behalf of the parent and loved one's of the child who had experienced loss is vital before, and after, a child is exposed to death of someone they hold dear. Parents should allow children to experience death in the every day culture around them and provide a well rounded understanding of the cycle of life to their children.

Citations

> @https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URGUQlcAoNU&feature=youtu.be
 * Mufasa Death - The Lion King - Funeral.
 * Bonoti, Fotini, Angeliki Leondari, and Adelais Mastora. "Exploring Children's Understanding of Death: Through Drawings and the Death Concept Questionnaire." Death Studies 37.1 (2013): 47-60. Web.
 * "Discover, Learn, Care: Improve Health." AACP -. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 July 2016.
 * Gaab, Erin M., Glynn R. Owens, and Roderick D. Macleod. "Caregivers’ Estimations of Their Children's Perceptions of Death as a Biological Concept." Death Studies 37.8 (2013): 693-703. Web.
 * Gutiérrez, Isabel T., Peggy J. Miller, Karl S. Rosengren, and Stevie S. Schein. "Iii. Affective Dimensions Of Death: Children's Books, Questions, And Understandings." Monographs Society Res Child Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 79.1 (2014): 43-61. Web.
 * Lee, Ji Seong, Eun Young Kim, Younyoung Choi, and Ja Hyouk Koo. "Cultural Variances in Composition of Biological and Supernatural Concepts of Death: A Content Analysis of Children's Literature." Death Studies 38.8 (2014): 538-45. Web.
 * Quinn-Lee, L. "School Social Work with Grieving Children." Children & Schools 36.2 (2014): 93-103. Web.
 * Renaud, Sarah-Jane, Paraskevi Engarhos, Michael Schleifer, and Victoria Talwar. "Children's Earliest Experiences with Death: Circumstances, Conversations, Explanations, and Parental Satisfaction." Infant and Child Development Inf. Child. Dev. 24.2 (2014): 157-74. Web.