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When a young child suddenly loses a parent, the world they were accustomed to changes overnight. Everything from daily routines to where they live or go to school, to how they feel safe and loved can change. With the right support, survivors and caregivers can help a child’s new normal following a parental death make them feel safe and loved again, but kids will need extra support to not feel alone during this especially difficult and challenging time.
Children do not like feeling alone. They need connections and healthy attachment bonds to help them feel safe and loved as they grow and develop. Losing a parent can suddenly interrupt their attachments and connections. Reading books with themes of parental death that allow children to relate to fictional characters can help.
Books and fictional characters can help grieving children process the big emotions they are trying to navigate after the death of a parent and break them down into smaller, more manageable emotions. In fact, research on the efficacy of this creative arts therapy, known as bibliotherapy, has been gaining traction for some time. Bibliotherapy uses carefully selected reading material to promote psychological healing, self-awareness, and personal growth. In essence, children who lose a parent can turn to books that feature themes related to the death of a parent and feel less alone after encountering fictional characters experiencing the same situation.
“Children as they grow can can understand that death can happen to anyone and some may be able to grasp the permanence of death. Yet, some children may still have magical thinking that their late parent will walk back through their door. Reading fictional books that tell a story about the life and death of a fictional parent can help children relate to the character and feel less alone. This is one of the main reasons I chose to write a book about a young girl who lost her father, and this story is written from her point of view. It describes how this character progressed through the erratic and emotional journey of loss, grief, anger, acceptance, and finally embraced joy once again. I believe children need hope and they can find hope through utilizing bibliotherapy.” —Jerry L. Woodbridge, Ph.D., author of Joy Overcame Sorrow
Bibliotherapy is a beneficial way for grieving children to gain different perspectives on the parental loss they are trying to navigate and the big feelings that come with it. Caregivers, survivors, and others who support grieving children can help them feel less alone by utilizing books with parental death themes.
