I recently came across a photograph of my father as a small boy (around 3 year old), standing in a crowd of family surrounding an open coffin of his dead grandma. Back then, death rituals were passed down like a shape of nose – from generation to generation, varying across the country and depending on things like family status. What was happening to children during the rituals depended on the tradition in a particular family.
Most of families today need to make a personal choice about children’s role in death rituals – wether they are going to participate in funeral and wake, what information are they going to receive, who and how is going to talk to them.
Does any general rule apply? Is there a one answer for frequently asked questions?
In search for a sensible voices on the subject of death from chidren’s perspective, I came across the article below, which gives straightforward answers to some of the questions. We obviously don’t have to agree, but the article undoubtly give us material to think and to relate to.
balancingparents 