NOTES FROM GRIEF

The anticipation of the holidays can be harder than the days themselves. This first look guide helps you plan ahead with your grieving child — what to keep, change, skip, and remember.

Grieving children can feel pressured to be thankful in November. Here's how to help kids hold grief and gratitude together — without forcing either one.

After a death, the empty chair at Thanksgiving is hard to ignore. Here's how to talk with kids about who's missing, honor them at the table, and give everyone room to feel.

Children's Grief Awareness Day is Thursday, November 19, 2026. Here's why it matters and simple ways families, schools, and communities can help grieving kids feel less alone.

When a military parent dies, children can lose their home, community, and identity too. Here's how to support grieving military kids — and where to find free, specialized help.

A grandparent's death is often a child's first big loss — and parents are usually grieving too. Here's how to explain it honestly, answer tough questions, and keep memories close.

Día de los Muertos shows how remembering the dead can be joyful, colorful, and full of love. Here's what this tradition can teach all of us about supporting grieving children.

Skeletons, tombstones, and zombie costumes can land differently for a grieving child. Here's how to prepare, offer choices, and answer the big questions Halloween brings up.

When a baby dies, older siblings grieve too — even very young ones. Here's how to explain the death honestly, ease self-blame, and keep the baby's memory part of your family.

You don't need perfect words — you need a few honest ones you can reach for in the moment. Here are real scripts for the hardest conversations with a grieving child, from the first telling to the questions that resurface months later.

Some children process grief through conversation. Others don't want to talk about it at all, and that's a valid way to grieve too. Here's how to support a quieter griever.

Two siblings, grieving the same death, can look like they're having entirely different experiences. Here's why that's normal, and how to support each child without comparing them.

A grieving child who laughs, plays, or feels genuinely happy isn't doing something wrong. Here's why joy and grief coexist, and how to help a child feel okay about both.

A birthday can be one of the hardest days on the calendar after a loss — whether it's the child's own birthday or the birthday of the person who died. Here's how to approach both.

Getting a new pet too soon can feel, to a grieving child, like the old pet is being replaced. Here's how to think about timing, and how to introduce a new pet with care.

Pet loss often lacks the formal ritual of a funeral, which can leave a child without a clear way to say goodbye. Here are simple, low-effort rituals that can help.

Classmates often want to help but freeze up, unsure what to say or do. Here's simple, age-appropriate guidance to help kids support a grieving friend without making things harder.

Whether a child should visit, call, or say a final goodbye to someone who is dying is a deeply personal decision. Here's a framework for thinking it through with care.

Deciding whether a child should attend a funeral is a real decision, not a default — and the child's own preference should carry real weight. Here's a framework for thinking it through.

Most grieving children don't need therapy to grieve well. But some signs are worth taking seriously. Here's what to watch for, and how to bring in extra support without alarming your child.