Helping Children Deal With a Pet's Death

After having to tell our children about the death of their gerbil last week I thought I'd write a few things about what helped them deal with it. First we had a family meeting. We told them the news and that it wasn't their fault. Then we realized that the kids listening to each other crying was making it worse so I took our daughter on a short walk. Once separated both kids calmed down right away. My husband and I felt that separating them after the initial news helped a lot. Our daughter also wrote (or dictated to me) a poem and drew a picture. This also helped her a lot. Now they seem to be over it and only occasionaly mention getting a new gerbil or hamster. I'm not to excited about getting a new one!