Adults must play a significant role in assisting children to live with death. The most important thing adults can do is to help children understand and accept their feelings throughout the entire death experience. The following information is intended to assist you in this effort. Children need to learn how to mourn; that is, to

Talking With Children In Grief From Bereavement and Support by Marylou Hughes Taylor & Francis, 1995, Used with permission Be direct. Use the correct words. Say “dead.” Do not use words that soft-pedal what happened. Children are not able to generalize from the words “sleeping,” “gone,” or “lost.” They will believe that the person is lost, sleeping,