Grieving Children: More Articles

Questions Asked by Grieving Children

Following the death of a loved one, a child feels many emotions-sadness, anger, anxiety, guilt, fear, loneliness, heart-broken. They are often confused by the death and have many spoken and unspoken questions.

A grieving child may wonder:

1. Who will die next?
2. Will I die at age _____ (the age of the loved one who died) ?
3. Who will play with me/take me to the ball game/girls scouts, etc.?
4. Who will take care of me-make dinner/ take me to school/ fix my bike/take care of me when I am sick?
5. Do they miss me?
6. Where are they?
7. Can they see me?
8. Are they still breathing/dreaming/sleeping?
9. When are they coming back? Can they come back?
10. Why me?
11. What did I do wrong?
12. How will we buy clothes/food/house now?
13. Is it my responsibility to take care of my mom/dad/siblings now?
14. Why?
15. Will my mom/dad (surviving parent) be OK?
16. Are they happy in heaven?
17. What's it like in heaven?
18. Could they send me a sign?
19. How do they feel?
20. Is it my fault?
21. Why did you go?
22. Do you remember me?
23. Do you still love me?
24. Did you choose to leave me?
25. Did you want to die?
26. Do you feel sorry that you left your family behind?
27. Would the direction of my life be different if I had my father longer?
28. If I find the answers to these questions will it take the pain and loneliness away? Will it bring meaning to my life?
29. Do people die because they have been bad?
30. Does God ever let people come back?
31. Do you know when you are going to die?
32. Does mom/dad/sibling still know how I am doing?
33. Will I forget what my mom/dad/sibling sounded like?
34. How long can people live?
35. Do you think dad would be mad at me I didn't stay home on his birthday?
36. Will bad things keep happening to us?
37. What should I say to my friends when I go back to school?
38. Will my friends think I am weird/different?
39. How do I stop being mad?
40. Where is heaven?
41. Can I go to heaven too?
42. Why did that man put daddy in that big box?
43. Can I still talk to mom/dad/sibling? Can they hear me?
44. Why didn't the doctor save my dad/mom/sibling?
45. If the person who killed my dad/mom/sibling gets out of jail, will they kill me too?
46. Will God hate me because I hate him?
47. Does anyone else feel like killing the person who killed your dad/mom/sibling?
48. Who am I now?
49. What's my role in the family now?
50. Is there a God?
51. How do I fill the void?
52. Who will take care of my mom/dad now?
53. Why does mommy/daddy cry so much?
54. What does it feel like to die?
55. Will my mom/dad get remarried?
56. Can we find a new mommy/daddy?
57. Does it hurt to die?
58. Is it cold in the ground? Does mommy need another blanket?
59. I have a headache-do I have brain cancer?
60. My older brother was 14 when he died. I am now 15-so is he still my older brother?
61. How did they get to heaven?
62. Why did they leave me? Were they mad at me?