This essay will convey a secure knowledge and understanding of the importance of appropriate children's literature in relation to the child's development. It will develop an ability to identify texts which influence children's personal, social and emotional development in the Early Years. This will correspond particularly to children who experience loss, change and grief. The essay will have a detailed understanding of the impact of loss on young children's lives, demonstrating a critical knowledge of theories of loss and grief. It will also show appreciation for the uncertainty, ambiguity and the limits of knowledge in relation to loss and grief in young children.
There are various events in children's lives which may have potentially harmful physical, social and emotional consequences. In the past, Bowlby (1980) suggests, it was confidently believed that a young child soon forgets its mother and so gets over the misery of not having her around and he says that grief in childhood, it was thought, is momentary. However, more searching observation has shown that that is not so as Brown (1999) states that death is an affair which plays on emotions which may never have been experienced before and may interfere with the normal process of growing up. Every year thousands of children face bereavement, perhaps through the death of a grandparent, parent, friend or sibling. How we help children during their losses can have a profound effect on the way their own lives will develop in the future, and even the way in which they will face their own deaths.
Wolmer, L., Laor, N., Dedeoglu, C., Siev, J. & Yazgan, Y. (2005) Teacher-mediated intervention after disaster:a controlled three-year follow-up of children's functioning, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Oxford, Blackwell Publishing. 46:11 pp.1161-1168
Early post-disaster intervention addressing children and their educational milieu provides children with significant symptomatic reduction, allowing the mobilisation of adaptive coping, thereby enhancing their overall functioning as observed in school.
Duffy, W. (1995) Children and Bereavement, London, National Society/Church House Publishing.
p.9. Every year thousands of children face bereavement, perhaps through the death of a grandparent, parent, friend or sibling.
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Wolmer, L., Laor, N., Dedeoglu, C., Siev, J. & Yazgan, Y. (2005) Teacher-mediated intervention after disaster:a controlled three-year follow-up of children's functioning, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Oxford, Blackwell Publishing. 46:11 pp.1161-1168
Early post-disaster intervention addressing children and their educational milieu provides children with significant symptomatic reduction, allowing the mobilisation of adaptive coping, thereby enhancing their overall functioning as observed in school.
Duffy, W. (1995) Children and Bereavement, London, National Society/Church House Publishing.
p.9. Every year thousands of children face bereavement, perhaps through the death of a grandparent, parent, friend or sibling.
p.9. How we help children during their losses can have a profound effect on the way their own lives will develop in the future, and even the way in which they will face their own deaths.
p.18. Nagy, M. says in these early years the permanence of death is not yet realised-it is seen as a vague concept, something that happens to flowers, insects and pets, Children tend to see death as akin to sleep or a journey, from which one can wake up or return.
p.31. When it comes to children we assume that they prefer half-truths or even white lies, especially when facing something as difficult as death. If you watch them at play, however, you'll see that death and dying have quite significant roles. ('Bang! Bang! You're dead')
p.35. Through the use of literature, teachers may explore the situation from another, less threatening angle.
Brown, E. (1999) Loss, Change and Grief, An Educational Perspective, London, David Fulton Publishers Ltd.
Intro. There are numerous events in children's lives which may have potentially damaging physical, social and emotional consequences.
p.26. Death is an event which interferes with the normal process of growing up and plays on emotions which may never have been experienced before.
p.108. Most of the schools described helping children learn about and come to terms with loss, change and death as part of a 'balanced and broadly-based curriculum'.
Lewis, M. & Michalson, L. (1983) Children's Emotions and Moods, Developmental Theory and Measurement, New York, Plenum Publishing Corporation.
p.21. Argued that the study of emotional development is important to understanding children's overall development.
Bowlby, J. (1980) Loss, Sadness and Depression, Volume Three of Attachment and Loss, London, The Hogarth Press Ltd.
p.10. At one time it was confidently believed that a young child soon forgets his mother and so gets over his misery. Grief in childhood, it was thought, is short-lived. Now, however, more searching observation has shown that that is not so.
Eades, J. F. (2004) Make space in your classroom to cope with feelings of loss, EYE, Volume 6, No. 3
p.21. Children feel anxiety and sadness and experience struggle, conflict and loss. The emotional climate of the classroom needs to make space for such feelings if it is not to teach children that certain emotions are unacceptable and must be repressed.
