Short Essay Assignment

For Chapter 10: Death in the Lives of Children and Adolescents, discuss two of the six questions below. In your submission, identify by number which questions you are answering.

1. Explain how very young children (ages 1-3) make efforts to understand death.

2. Describe and give examples of the developmental phases as related to terminally ill children's understandings and fears.

3. List and evaluate at least four mechanisms that children use to cope with terminal illness.

4. Discuss the range of emotions children might experience after the death of a pet, parent, or sibling.

5. Develop a detailed plan for helping a child through the initial period following a specific type of bereavement.

6. Imagine that a fifth-grade teacher has called on you as someone knowledgeable on the topic of death and dying. There is a child in class whose mother is dying; the children know about it and are expressing feelings of anxiety. You have been invited to come and talk to the children about death and dying. Would you go? Why or why not? If you went, what would you say? If you did not go, what advice would you give to the teacher? Provide a detailed answer.