Children's Developmental Stages Concepts of Death and Responses

Each child is unique in his or her understanding of death and response to grief. This understanding is largely influenced by the child’s developmental level and age. But tremendous overlap can exist among age groups because children move from one developmental level to another at very different rates.

Infancy to Age 2

Concept of Death

Babies do not have the cognitive capability to understand an abstract concept like death. They function very much in the present. When someone significant dies, babies are more acutely aware of loss and separation. They react to the emotions and behaviors of significant adults in their environment and to any disruptions in their nurturing routine and schedule. If there is a sudden change, they feel tremendous discomfort.

Grief Response

Babies may search for the deceased and become anxious as a result of the separation. Common reactions include: irritability and protest, constant crying, a change in sleeping and eating habits, decreased activity and weight loss.

Preschool Age (2-4)

Concept of Death

“When will my mommy be home?”

“How does (the deceased) eat or breathe?”

Preschool children do not comprehend the concept of “forever.” For this age group, death is seen as temporary and reversible. Even when a preschooler is told that Mommy is not coming back, for example, he or she may ask an hour later, "Where is Mommy?" Preschoolers do not usually visualize death as separate from life, nor as something that can happen to them. Preschool children love to play “peek-a-boo” games where adults in their life disappear and then reappear again. It is through these games that they slowly begin to understand the concept of “gone for good.”

Grief Response

Because preschoolers tend to be present-oriented, their grief reactions can be brief but very intense. At this developmental stage, children are learning to trust and form basic attachments. When a significant adult in their life dies, they become very concerned about separation and altered patterns of care. They typically have a heightened sense of anxiety concerning separations and rejections because they don’t yet have the capacity to use their imagination to gain control over what is happening.¹

They also respond to the emotional reactions of adults in their life. If they sense their parents are worried or sad, they may cry or have a tantrum, either because they are concerned or as a way to distract their parents from difficult emotions. Typical grief responses of the preschool child include confusion, frightening dreams and night agitation, and regressive behaviors such as clinging, bed wetting, thumb sucking, inconsolable crying, temper tantrums and withdrawal from others. They might search intensely for the deceased despite assurances that that person will not return or be anxious around strangers.

Early Childhood (4-7)

Concept of Death

“It’s my fault. I was mad at my mother once and I told her I wish she would die and then she died.”

“The roadrunner in the cartoon always comes back to life, so I know Daddy will too.”

As with preschoolers, this group views death as temporary and reversible. They sometimes feel responsible for the death because they believe that their own negative thoughts or feelings about the deceased might have caused his/her death. This “magical thinking” stems from the belief that everything in their environment revolves around them and that they can control what happens. Even when children at this age are exposed to death through the media or at school, they still may believe that you can avoid death if you are careful enough.

Children at this age may also connect occurrences that do not have anything to do with each other. If a child bought a certain toy the day that her sister died, she may attribute the toy to causing the sister’s death, especially if the real cause of the death is not fully explained to her.

Grief Response

As with preschoolers, this age group may repeatedly search for the deceased or ask where he/she is. Repetitive questioning about the death process is also common. “What happens when you die?” “How do dead people eat?” They will often express their grief feelings through play instead of words. Themes of family loss and death may surface as they play with dolls or action figures. They may play-act the death itself or the funeral.²

Sometimes children at this age appear unaffected by the death and act as if nothing happened, but this doesn’t mean that they are oblivious OR that they have accepted the death. It may signify their inability in the moment to acknowledge very painful reality. They may model their grief reaction after adults in their lives who are feeling uncertain how to express their own feelings. Other typical responses include anger, sadness, confusion and difficulty eating and sleeping.

As with preschoolers, this age group may regress as a way to receive more nurturance and attention during this difficult time. Children who have experienced a loss at this age tend to be fearful that other loved ones will leave them as well. Sometimes they form attachments to people who resemble the deceased in some way.

Middle Years (7-10)

Concept of Death

“Do your fingernails and hair keep growing when you die?”

“If I smoked cigarettes, would I die?”

This age group may want to see death as reversible, but they begin to see it as both final and universal. Children in this age group sometimes visualize death in the form of a tangible being such as a ghost or boogeyman.³ They are very curious about the details of death, cremation and burial and may ask candid questions.

Even though they know death can happen to anyone and that there are many things that cause death, they still do not typically think of death as something that can happen to them or their family members. They may believe that death happens to only old or very sick people, or that they can escape death through their own efforts. They also might view death as a punishment, particularly before age nine. Sometimes they are unable to comprehend how the death will affect their life, a possible source of anxiety.

Grief Response

Children in the middle years often become concerned with how others are responding to the death by focusing less on themselves and more on others. They may fear that other loved ones will die as well. They might worry about own health or fear bodily harm and death.

Some children in this age group might act out their anger and sadness or be unable to concentrate at school. Still others might have a jocular or indifferent attitude about the death, or they might withdraw and hide their feelings. Other typical responses include shock, denial, depression, changes in eating and sleeping patterns, and regression to an earlier developmental stage.

This age group tends to be able to tap into more coping strategies than younger children and might fantasize how they would have prevented the death as a way of gaining control over the situation. Some children, especially those who have difficult expressing feelings verbally, might play-act through war games or other activities.

Children in this age group might assume the role or the mannerisms of the deceased or take on chores or roles previously performed by the deceased, such as care for their siblings. They may idealize the deceased as a way of maintaining a bond with them.

Pre-Adolescent (10-12)

Concept of Death

“None of my friends could ever relate to what it’s like losing their dad.”

“I know that Grandma is not coming back and I will miss her. I don’t understand why my mom is so upset about it.”

Pre-adolescents conceive of death in much the same way as children in the middle years, with a few additions. Pre-adolescents are in the process of establishing their own identities, gaining more independence from their parents and other adults, and creating stronger ties with their peer group. In understanding death, pre-adolescents attempt to understand both the biological AND emotional process of death. They are, however, more able to understand the facts surrounding the death of someone than they are the feelings surrounding the death.⁴

Grief Response

It is common for pre-adolescents to want to cover their feelings and emotions so as not to appear “different” from their peer group. They fear that expressing sad feelings may be seen as a sign of weakness (particularly for boys). For this reason, they may seem removed and indifferent.

They also may express their grief uncharacteristically, such as through anger outbursts, irritability and bullying behavior. They may exhibit physical symptoms, moodiness, changes in sleeping and eating patterns, indifference toward schoolwork, or isolation from their peers.

They might worry about practical issues after a death, such as how the household will survive without the deceased or how they personally will be taken care of. They also might have questions regarding religious and cultural beliefs about death.

¹Atle Dyregrov, Grief in Children: A Handbook for Adults (London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1990), p.43.

²Wiliam C. Kroen. Ph.D., LMHC, Helping Children Cope with the Loss of a Loved One (Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing Inc.), p.41.

³Helen Fitzgerald, The Grieving Child (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992), p.56.

⁴Theresa Huntley, Helping Children Grieve (Augsburg: Augsburg Fortress, 1991), p. 17