Orphans and Vulnerable Children - CRIN

3 The Understanding of Death at Different Ages

In this activity, you will:

 Discuss children’s understanding of death at different stages of development

Facilitator’s notes:

Depending on their age, children go through different stages in their understanding of death.

It is useful for counsellors to be aware of this.

Below 5 Years

Children of this age tend to see death as reversible and temporary, as they do not

understanding its full meaning. They also do not see that death may happen to them,

and they may believe that it is something that they can avoid. They may also have

misconception about what causes death. Explanations about death to children of this

age should be brief, simple and concrete. For example, you could say, ‘When people

die, they do not breathe any more, just as when dogs die they do not bark any more’.

From 5 - 10 Years

At this age, children gradually develop an understanding of death as irreversible.

They come to understand that all living things die and that they too will die some day.

Around the age of seven, children grasp that death is unavoidable and universal,

even though they often resist the idea of death as a possibility for themselves.

They sometimes exhibit ‘magical thinking’, such as thinking that the dead can see or

hear the living, or thinking that their own thoughts or behaviours can cause death.

Like young children, they need concrete explanations of what death means.

From 10 Years to Adolescence

After the age of ten, children come to understand the long-term consequences of

death. During adolescence, they begin to think about their lives and to hold their

own views on the meaning of life. If children at this age experience a death in the

family, they tend to be able to understand explanations about the facts surrounding

the death.

For this activity you will need:

 Flipchart and markers

To facilitate this activity

1 Ask the participants to share ideas about how children in the following age groups

understand death: below five years old; five to 10 years old; 10 years old to adolescence.

Supplement their ideas with the information provided on your facilitator’s notes.

2 Ask for volunteers to role-play children of various ages talking about death.

Activity 3

30 minutes

(^190) Unit 2, Module 2 Guide to Mobilising and Strengthening Community-Led Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children