Preschool children's understanding the concept of death and grieving

Zreo koncept smrti pretpostavlja 5 komponenti, a to su nepovratnost, neizbježnost, primjenjivost, prestanak i uzročnost te ih djeca mogu s vremenom usvojiti. Komponenta koja se posljednja usvaja je komponenta uzročnosti jer je po svojoj naravi najkompleksnija. U brojnim istraživanjima su istraživani i prediktori koji mogu predvidjeti dječje razumijevanje smrti, to su primjerice godine, socioekonomski status i spol, kognitivne sposobnosti, iskustvo i komunikacija djeteta i roditelj. Poimanje smrti pod utjecajem je i suvremenih medija u kojima se djeca nerijetko susreću s portretiranjem smrti te su ta iskustva često primarni poticaj za započinjanje razgovora između djeteta i roditelja. Razgovor o umiranju prikazanom u medijima ima važnu svrhu u formiranju pravilnog razumijevanja smrti i njenih uzroka. Roditelj te brat ili sestra su važne osobe u djetetovu životu i njihov gubitak teško pogađa dijete. Reakcije na smrt roditelja iz godine u godine se mijenjaju, od jednostavnijih oblika izražavanja emocija do složenijih i svjesnih ekspresija kao što su tuga ili ljutnja. Važnu ulogu pritom ima drugi roditelj koji svojom podrškom i otvorenom komunikacijom pomaže djetetu prebroditi teške trenutke, a pored njega i vršnjaci spremno pružaju podršku tugujućem djetetu. Razgovor o smrti s djetetom nije nimalo lak, ali ga ne treba izbjegavati. Objašnjenja trebaju biti prilagođena djetetu i po svojoj strukturi jednostavna, sažeta i nedvosmislena te je potrebno izbjegavati eufemizme čija je svrha ublažiti tešku vijest o smrti, ali oni u stvarnosti nisu svrhoviti za dijete. Tugovanje je odgovor na smrt bliske osobe i neophodan je proces koji služi prihvaćanju realnosti smrti, proživljavanju emocija i u konačnici suočavanju s novonastalom stvarnošću. Dječje tugovanje obilježeno je mitovima, ali tugovanje je individualan proces koji traje i nema očekivan ishod niti vrijeme završetka. U početku procesa javlja se normalno tugovanje obilježeno snažnim emocijama koje s vremenom gube na intenzitetu i prerasta u integrirano tugovanje, ali u određenim slučajevima može prerasti u patološko. Taj oblik tugovanja podrazumijeva nedostatan ili nikakav napredak prema kraju procesa tugovanja te konstantan osjećaj tuge i beznađa.The mature concept of death presupposes 5 components, namely irreversibility, inevitability, applicability, cessation, and causality, and children can adopt them over time. The component that is last adopted is the causality component because it is by its nature the most complex. Numerous studies have also investigated predictors that can predict children's understanding of death, such as age, socioeconomic status and gender, cognitive abilities, experience and communication between the child and the parent. The notion of death is also influenced by modern media, in which children often encounter portrayal of death, and these experiences are often the primary impetus for starting a conversation between a child and a parent. The conversation about dying portrayed in the media has an important purpose in forming a proper understanding of death and its causes. The parent and sibling are important people in a child’s life and their loss severely affects the child. Reactions to parental death vary from year to year, from simpler forms of expressing emotions to more complex and conscious expressions such as sadness or anger. An important role is played by the other parent, who with support and open communication helps the child to overcome difficult moments, and besides him, his peers are ready to support the grieving child. Talking about death with a child is not easy at all, but it should not be avoided. The explanations should be child-friendly and simple, concise and unambiguous in structure, and euphemisms intended to alleviate the difficult news of death should be avoided, but they are not really purposeful for the child. Grief is a response to the death of a loved one and is a necessary process that serves to accept the reality of death, to experience emotions, and ultimately to confront a new reality. Child grief is marked by myths, but grief is an individual process that lasts and has no expected outcome or time to end. At the beginning of the process, normal grief occurs, marked by strong emotions, which over time lose their intensity and grow into integrated grief, but in certain cases it can grow into pathological grief. This form of grief implies insufficient or no progress towards the end of the grieving process and a constant feeling of sadness and hopelessness