From Sad to Glad: A Workbook for Grieving Children

Wondering how to talk to your child about grief? From Sad to Glad can be just the opening you need—a lead-in to parent-child talks about grief facts and feelings.

This workbook helps your child explore feelings via various activities, including drawing, finish the picture, connect the dots, scribble art, sad to glad maze, brainstorming, and more. Each activity sparks different thoughts about grief. Many grief topics are represented in the workbook, among them:
• remembering a loved one
• anger associated with grief
• feeling worried and afraid
• comfort of linking objects
• getting support from family
• believing in happiness.

Your child is entitled to her or his feelings. Talk about good, bad, and confusing feelings with your child. Say you have these feelings too. Together, the activity pages and talks will help your child develop coping skills. Perhaps the most important skill is knowing that feelings change constantly. This is true of adults and children, something else to discuss with your child.

Ask your child which page is their favorite. Why this page? Talk about the progress your child has made. Grief is a journey and, whether you are an adult or child, each journey is unique. No grief journey is identical to another. From Sad to Glad is part of your child’s journey, an exploration of feelings and visual record of emotional growth.

Book Information

Author: Harriet Hodgson

Illustrator: Roxanne Wach