"When a parent dies, children feel the pain differently than surrounding adults do. A parent is the whole world to a child, so to have this bond suddenly stop forming instills a deep sadness. After all, they have bonded with their parent since they were born, and are used to exploring the big world with them. Now suddenly they have to try to figure out how to navigate moving forward without their parent. This is not easy for a child to do."
"One of the most important tasks surviving family members can take on to help support a child who just lost a parent, along with comforting them and showing them as much love as they can, is to gather everything they can think of that has to do with the late parent-photographs, voice recordings, ticket stubs from a vacation, a favorite scarf, perfume, DVD, or CD, home videos, gifts the parent gave to the child, and more, to help with this transition."
"None of these items can bring the late parent back for the child, but they can help take a little of the sting out of the loss. For children are not just experiencing the death of their parent, but a suddenly broken bond they deeply need in their life, the sudden pause in creating any additional future memories together, and so much more."
"There are additional helpful tools surviving family members can consider to help support children after the death of a parent. Some companies, for example, can turn a photo of the late parent into a plush doll. Others will upload voice recordings of the late parent and/or photos or videos to help preserve their memory for a child. Various other coping tools can help comfort grieving children in a practical way, such as bibliotherapy, movie therapy, scriptotherapy, Lego"
When a parent dies, children experience grief differently and deeply because the parent often represented the child's whole world and ongoing bond. Children lose both the person and the continuing creation of future memories, making coping especially difficult. Surviving family members can support grieving children by collecting tangible mementos such as photographs, voice recordings, tickets, clothing, home videos, and gifts to preserve the parent's presence. Companies can transform photos into plush dolls or upload recordings and videos to extend a child's access to the parent's voice and image. Additional coping tools include bibliotherapy, movie therapy, scriptotherapy, and play-based supports like Lego.
Read at Psychology Today
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