Helping a child cope with the loss of a pet!

its such a hard subject and is sometimes the first time a child learns about death and what it is ,
its hard to expain and try and make the child under stand i think the worst thing a parent can do is hide it from a child

I think the loss of a pet is probably hardest to cope with for a child. It will probably be thier first encounter with death and thier first big loss and it needs to be acknowleged. I found that my daughter often understands more than i give her credit for. I sat her down and had a really long talk with her. She had also recently lost her great-grandad so i think it dragged up those emotions as well. I explained to her that butch is a star now and is up in the sky with her grandad who is looking after him. Now whenever she misses either of them i can tell her to look at the stars and find the ones she thinks are butch and grandad. I also made sure that we talk about them often. I think alot of parents think it will hurt thier child to talk about it to much, but i found that it often cheered her up to be able to share her best memories of them both. As well as that i also explained the suffering that they both were going through, it was hard but it helped her to understand that they were in a better place now and that they no longer feel that pain. I think it is comforting for her to know that they are looking down on her.