Helping Children deal with Death

We recently had a death of a loved one leaving eight children behind, the youngest one three years old.  I've been researching a bit about how to help my children deal with that death and with ones in the future.  So far the key is to keep talking about it.  Talk about the loved one and memories with them.  Cry together.  Explain where your loved one is now.  The worst idea is to shut down and not talk, for you or your kids because they need to have ways to let the grief out, that doesn't turn into harmful actions.   There is a great book we discovered that helps children learn about grief.  It is called, "Tear Soup: A recipe for healing after Loss", by Pat Schweibert.

This book really explains a lot on what to expect from grief and how healing takes place in a way that children can understand.