How Do We Tell the Children? - 4th Edition by Dan Schaefer & Christine Lyons (Paperback)

About the Book

This classic, step-by-step guide to talking about death, separation, and loss with children and teens features timely new material on dealing with trauma, addressing violence in schools, and helping grandparents cope as caregivers.
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—for dealing with 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.
Now in its fourth edition, this classic guide includes an expanded quick-reference Crisis Section with conversation scripts and up-to-date resources including websites, publications, and support groups.

From the Back Cover

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.

Review Quotes

"This valuable book should have a place in every home…written simply and clearly."—David Peretz, M.D., Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University

"Parents need this clear, extremely readable guide…Highly recommended."—"Library Journal"

"Outstanding…A real contribution."—Rabbi Earl A. Grollman, D.D., author of "Explaining Death to Children"

"An extraordinary book…Useful and practical."—Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation

"A valuable gift to many bereaved families."—"The American Funeral Director"

About the Author

Daniel Schaefer, Ph.D., is a member of the guest faculty of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York University, and Brooklyn College, among others. He lives in New York City.