#153 Children & Grief | Korie Leigh, PhD

Talking about death and grief is not easy, and it’s especially challenging to talk with children about them. Given social conventions, we tend to speak about these two heavy topics euphemistically or indirectly, if at all.

Turns out that, for many reasons, not talking directly about death and grief is not such a great idea. One reason is that, as painful as they are, death and grief are inventible parts of life, and no one can avoid them. An old tale features a character who shows up as Death, personified by a grim reaper-like character in the story, saying he will spare the protagonist’s loved one if the protagonist can find a village that hasn’t been impacted by death.Spoiler alert, no village was not impacted by death.

So, the big questions are these: how can we best deal with death and grief? And how can we deal with them if we need to communicate these giant realities with children?Fortunately, I know just the person to ask these and many other relevant questions, and that would be my new friend, Dr. Korie Leigh (https://www.korieleighphd.com/). Korie is the author of a superb children’s book on grief called What Does Grief Feel Like? Korie has a long list of credentials, including professor, child life specialist, and thanatologist. What’s a thanatologist you might ask? It’s a person who has studied the many aspects surrounding death and dying.Paradoxically, knowing death well can make a person far more alive. And you will hear in this podcast that Korie is a vital, passionate, and a supremely insightful person from whom I learned a ton, and I am confident you will, too.So, listen in as Korie and I talk about grief and children. Book Link: https://amzn.to/43U9mlj This is an affiliate link. It will provide me with a small commission on purchases made through it and help the podcast (but it won’t affect the price you pay).