How To Help Children With Pet Loss

In addition, when they spend enough time with their companion, they learn the importance of not judging others and accepting people for who they are because that is what animals unknowingly teach them. Overall, having a pet as a companion can be viewed as an invaluable tool that teaches children to treat other people with respect and kindness. 

While animals do not share the same communication method as humans, how they express their love and emotions through body language is enough to help children through difficult days. 

Moreover, it is not uncommon for children to be afraid to sleep alone at night if they are afraid of the dark. A family pet can add stability to their nighttime routine by sleeping near them, helping them to feel safe and secure. 

If your child recently lost their pet dog and you are unsure of how to express your sympathies, here is an excellent article to get you through the process. 

Because of their strong bond, when they are faced with the inevitable loss of a pet, the grieving process will be undoubtedly challenging, and they may struggle to cope with it healthily. 

When it comes to understanding death and its meaning, there is no golden age when a child needs to be taught. In fact, some families choose not to talk about death until it happens, while others make it a priority to explain its very nature when children are young. 

Sometimes the best way to talk about the loss of a loved one is to open up the conversation to questions. When someone hears the news that their beloved pet has passed or is gone forever, the last thing they want to do is listen to someone talking for an extended period.

This might be one of the most critical aspects of helping your child deal with pet loss. Whatever emotion they feel naturally, they need to be given the space to exercise this emotion as it will help them heal. When your child is expected to suppress their feelings or are made to feel like they are not valid, it will prolong the grief and can cause more trauma.

Keep in mind that these feelings may be cyclical in nature, meaning they will come and go in waves. So, when your child appears to have overcome the loss and reached a state of acceptance and resolution, be prepared to witness relapsed episodes of grieving emotions. This is a very normal part of the grieving process and should always be respected. 

Finding common ground in a difficult situation is a great way to normalize the experience while sharing grief. If children feel as though they are the only ones dealing with the loss of their pet or that no one else knows what they're going through, it can leave them feeling alone and desperate. The last thing you want is for your child to think that they are supposed to cope with the loss by themselves and that they have no one to rely on for symptom relief. 

There is a common misconception that ceremonies and memorial services are reserved for the loss of human life only. Well, that is not the case, and fortunately, more pet owners are taking the time to celebrate the life of their pets with a special ceremony.

There are many ways in which you can do this, and it all comes down to preference and the comfortability of your child. 

Some ideas might be:

Let your child say a short prayer, read a poem they wrote, or say something about the pet during the ceremony. You can also use this opportunity to allow your child to tell stories about memories they shared and some of their most precious times spent together. 

Let them choose cremation urn jewelry for the pet. Buying a pet memorial urn as a keepsake memory for your child is a beautiful way to keep the memory of their pet alive. If you need an idea of what type of jewelry urns to choose from, you will find very beautiful options listed here. 

Let them establish a special place in the house to display the urn along with a small memorial for the pet. Whether they prefer to keep the urn in their bedroom or in the family room for everyone to see, allowing your child to choose the resting stop will help them feel a lot more involved in the goodbye ceremony. 

Children often lack the coping skills required to help them express their emotions in a way that adults can understand. Unfortunately, if a parent isn't aware that the child is, in fact, grieving, it can make it challenging for the child to navigate and cope with their grief. Even more, this can lead to a child's grief being neglected and overlooked, which can be traumatic for them. 

When they create drawings or paintings, it can help to hang them around the home or in their bedroom until your child feels ready to take them down. If you want to learn more about how to create a kid friendly memorial project, this article has excellent tips for you.

Make a special scrapbook with the child of their memories with their pet. This may be helpful if you have numerous children that are dealing with the loss. Each scrapbook can be a personalized memory between them and the pet.

Scrapbooks are one of the oldest ways to memorialize a loved one as they act as a conduit for physical memories. Not only does this help your children to remember their pet with their favorite photos, but it is also another creative outlet that allows them to exert their emotions positively. Whatever creative outlet your child prefers, it's essential to let them take the wheel in designing and crafting the look of the scrapbook. 

Pet cremation jewelry is a very popular option to gift a loved one who is going through a loss. The best thing about them is that they hold the remains of your precious pet and can also have an engraved message or even a photo etched onto them. 

When our beloved pets die, it doesn't mean they no longer exist. In fact, talking about them regularly is the best way to keep their memory alive in our minds and hearts.

And for children, allowing them to talk about their memories is encouraged as it is a crucial part of the grieving process. Moreover, if you spend time talking about the positive memories, it will help them with moving on positively and healthily.

For younger children, this could be an easy way to explain the loss of their pet. If parents and caretakers find it challenging to talk about death and loss and struggle to find the right words, that is okay. Not everyone is equipped with the ability to deal with such traumatic events while consoling another person. For anyone who is struggling, books are an excellent resource to help your child cope with their grief. As an added benefit, doing this encourages the importance of reading to learn about life which is sadly becoming a lost craft. 

In many cases, the vet (a professional) can say things to the child about the loss that helps them feel like the animal was well taken care of at the end of their life. When a pet dies under the supervision of a vet, it is normal to have questions, including

• Did my pet suffer?
• Was there more they could have done?
• Was it something I did?
• How could I have prolonged his life?
• Were they sad in their last moments?
• Do you think they missed me?

These are all very normal, and common questions children will ask you, their vet, and themselves. The best approach is to allow the vet to answer any medical-related questions. This is because they have the most accurate knowledge to provide an answer, and as we mentioned above, it's essential always to be honest. Moreover, they have experience dealing with grieving pet owners, so they know how to approach the situation most appropriately. 

Everyone deals with the loss of a pet differently, some better than others. If you have a situation where your child is unable to cope with the grief, and you feel as though outside intervention is needed, you might want to book an appointment with a professional or a priest. 

When children go through a loss, it is not uncommon for them to seek solace with their friends and peers rather than their family. This becomes more common as they age into middle-schoolers and teenagers. If this is the case with your child and you notice they won't open up to you try looking for a children's/teens local support group.

This could be a group that meets up to talk for a few hours or a group that focuses on dealing with the loss through arts and crafts. If you think your child will benefit from this type of external support, it doesn't mean you failed as a parent; it just means this is their preferred form of therapy.