Never Too Young to Know: Death in Children's Lives

By Phyllis R. Silverman

Book Overview

In spite of society's wish to protect and insulate children from death, the experience of loss is unavoidable and there is surprisingly little guidance on how to help children cope with grief and bereavement. Never Too Young to Know: Death in Children's Lives is the first book to bring together diverse fields of study, offering a practical as well as multifaceted theoretical approach to how children cope with death. Using stories of children's own experiences supported by data from a large research study, Silverman explains the wide range of effects of loss upon children and the challenges they face as they grieve. Silverman presents grief as a normal part of the life cycle, which results not only in pain and sadness but also in change and growth. She further explains that children can and do cope effectively with loss and the changes it brings as long as they are taught to understand that death is a part of life and that they will be included appropriately in the family drama.
Never Too Young To Know: Death in Children's Lives is divided into three parts. The first section includes an overview and theoretical framework that examines the social, historical, developmental, and familial forces that frame and focus children's lives as they experience loss. The second section offers a detailed analysis of how children experience mourning different types of death including the death of siblings, parents, and friends, and death due to illness, suicide, accidents, and violence. The final section includes an accessible guide to helping children cope with grief, emphasizing the importance and the necessity of social support as children learn to adapt to their new lives.
Never Too Young To Know: Death in Children's Lives is not only ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate students learning about children but it is also useful for courses on death and dying and the family. It is also an invaluable book for mental health practitioners, clergy, schoolteachers, nurses, pediatricians, as well as the general reader interested in learning how to deal with death in children's lives.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195109554
• ISBN13: 9780195109559
• Release Date: August 1999
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Never to Late to learn about death in children's lives

As a pediatrician interested in general pediatrics and palliative (end of life) care, I have received no training during my medical education about death in children's lives. Dr. Silverman's book combines her three plus decades of research with a multitude of family's stories to make a book that should enter the "must read" list of anybody working with children who face a serious loss. Her sensitive and concise writing was so engaging that I read the book in three days. Who would ever think that a subject as difficult as this could be presented in such an inspirational and accessible way?

Wise and compassionate advice

"Phyllis Silverman fills these pages with the words and stories of bereaved children and parents and lessons she has learned from them. We cannot protect children from the realities of dying and death. Grieving is for them, as for us all, a life-long process of relearning how to be and act in a world profoundly changed by death. Children, too, can learn to carry the hurt of missing someone and to hold them in their memories and hearts. They do best within the empathetic embrace of their families and communities. Buy this book for its wise and compassionate advice about helping grieving children and nurturing the great resilience within them."

A great way to learn about Children and Death

Phyllis Silverman' book about children and death combines scholarly excellence with a readable style. Most importantly, it is the work of a caring morther and grandmother who brings into her professional life a deep care for others. It covers the views and needs both of children and their parents after the death of a significant person. I have made it required reading in my Children and Death course.