How Do We Tell the Children?: A Step-by-Step Guide for Helping Children and Teens Cope When Someone Dies

Many children's lives are touched by a serious illness within their families, and some will be faced with the loss of a parent or grandparent, or the death of a sibling or beloved pet. How can adults help young people cope with these losses? How do they explain and console in language that a child can understand?

Dr. Daniel Schaefer, working with child psychologists and trauma experts, and drawing on more than three decades of experience with families in crisis, has written a practical guide for anyone who works or lives with children—parents, caregivers, counselors, or teachers—to respond to their inevitable questions about loss and change, life and death. He provides strategies to assist children with grief and trauma and offers time-tested advice and language that children can understand.

How Do We Tell the Children?

Now in its fourth edition, this classic guide includes new material on:

• dealing with the traumatic stress of a large-scale catastrophe
• handling the repercussions of school violence
• helping grandparents manage as caregivers
• advising employers about how to support employees going through a family loss.

The book also features an expanded quick-reference Crisis Section with conversation scripts and up-to-date resources, including websites, publications, and support groups.

Dan Schaefer, Ph.D., has served as a guest faculty member at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, and the graduate schools at New York, Adelphi, Hofstra, and Rutgers universities. He has consulted with both military and police survivors. For more than thirty years he managed a family-owned funeral home that served families for four generations. "How do we tell the children?" was the question most often asked by grieving parents. His invaluable past experience and current work as President of Peak Performance Strategies have contributed to this practical and wise new edition. He lives in Roslyn, NY.

Christine Lyons is a journalist in New York City.

Dan Schaefer, Ph.D., has served as a guest faculty member at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, and the graduate schools at New York, Adelphi, Hofstra, and Rutgers universities. He has consulted with both military and police survivors. For more than thirty years he managed a family-owned funeral home that served families for four generations. "How do we tell the children?" was the question most often asked by grieving parents. His invaluable past experience and current work as President of Peak Performance Strategies have contributed to this practical and wise new edition. He lives in Roslyn, NY.

Christine Lyons is a journalist in New York City.