Did you know that the popular children's show based on the Arthur book series has recently showed some episodes teaching kids about cancer? (To see an article talking about the show, go to http://www.nea.org/home/36138.htm). The article said that one in four adults diagnosed with cancer have children under the age of 18. I think that makes it an important topic for children to learn about. This article especially hit home for me because my mom was diagnosed with cancer when I was 12 and I did not really deal with it very well. Maybe if I had better understood what cancer was and how I could have made the situation easier as presented on Arthur, things would have been a little bit better for me.
You can’t really teach kids about cancer without talking about death. One of the articles that we read for class recently, “Controversial Books and Contemporary Children” talks about death as being a controversial subject in children’s books. The article made a very good argument for why death should not be a controversial subject for teaching children and I was wondering, why is it so controversial? Death is something children experience from a young age. Why don’t we have more literature in classrooms and libraries about it? Because death is so common, it doesn’t make sense to try to shelter a child from something they are probably going to experience sooner or later, whether it be the death of a pet or a grandparent.
As a teacher, I will need to be prepared to deal with death in the classroom. At least one of my students a year will probably have to deal with the death of someone they love. Does anyone have any recommendations of children’s books that deal with death? Any suggestions of ways that death could be presented to children?
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I was really happy to see this posted since I was also wondering about how to talk with kids about death after reading that article. We've talked in class about how we (as a society) try to protect children from any hurt or sadness that we are able to, which is why this may be a controversial topic. I also think that it could be a controversial topic because religion could be brought into the discussion. Some people believe people go to heaven, others that you go to heaven based on what you did here on earth, others that when you die that's it, and the list goes on.
I agree with you that it is a topic that will definitely come up in any classroom that you teach. I looked online and found a few children's books that deal with death:
http://www.teachingheart.net/deathlitforkidss.html. There were also a lot of books when searching Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. One book that came across many of the 'death book lists' was "What is Dying?" by Etan Boritzer, Illustrated by Nancy Forrest (a link to the book is below). There were many good reviews of this book because the tone was easy and gentle, but was honest at the same time and didn't avoid the topic. It also introduced readers to different beliefs about what happens after you die, depending on religion/part of the world. I haven't read the book, but it is one I want to look further into.
http://www.boredfeet.com/singles2/wideath.php
Another way to help students through a death is through poetry. There are many good poems that may not necessarily be considered 'children's poetry' that children will understand. Last year I took a poetry class (it was called Reading, Writing, and Teaching Poetry, but it is under a different number now - I highly recommend it even if you don't think you like poetry). We had a teacher from a local elementary school come in to talk to us about how one of her students' grandparents died who he was very close with. He completely shut-down because of it or acted out, depending on his mood for the day. She read a poem about grieving, and for some reason the boy was able to connect with the poem and asked if the teacher would help him write a poem for his grandmother. He was able to express himself through the poetry and ended up being much better in the classroom after reading/writing the poetry.
Well, I think death is hardcore topic to everyone. But I believe it shouldn't ignored. Death comes without notice. Last time when I was at class, we talked about the some topics that are covered during middle and high school years. Such as gay, sex, history and etc,. I spent my whole middle and high school year in international school and they did not filtered any kind of topic which was covered in class. It was little too much to take at the age of 10s but I feel it was really helpful to know by the time I got into college. Because I have seen so many kids who believed what they have learned was the truth. Besides being ignorant, children also do have right to know and learn what is right and wrong especially if its familly associated I have said enough.
I loved your post, because I do agree with all the arguements made on why or why not the topic of death should be taught to children, which does make it so controversial. However, after really thinking about, I do believe that death could be talked about in very small doses to children in the classroom. I think it should be taught because it is so common and everyone will experience a death by someone close to them at one point in their life, and they have to have some grip of that reality. I don't think it should be taught in any kind of way that would really impact the child to make them leave the classroom hurt or sad, but maybe just have read a piece of literature that involved death or talked about it, and then discussed in a way that the child would not be afraid to discuss it again because they reacted in such an emotional way to it.
I do think poetry would be a great way to bring the topic of death into the classroom. This way the emphasis could be placed on learning about poetry, and bring death into it subtly. I also think another good way to bring death into topics at a very young age is through books with pictures and animals. This way the child may still keep an interest in the book and raise questions about death itself without just reading and seeing such gloomy, negative images. One book I would recommend to everyone to read to their children is "I Love You Forever." It's about a little boy growing up and the mother was always taking care of him. And when he became a man, he took care of his elderly mother. It's a touching book that shows that people grow old and you have to learn to say goodbye to them, but it shows it in a very far future. It's a sweet book that many kids enjoy because of the good pictures. Overall, death is such a sensitive and emotional subject. However, it shouldn't be ignored and should definately be recognized in some form when teaching to children, but in a subtle way.
I think that death should be a topic discussed in class as well as have pieces of literature about it. And not only death but also cancer. Both cancer and death were something that effected my life when I was younger. My grandfather had cancer and eventually died from it. I remember my parents not really telling me everything that was going on and I always felt left in the dark about things. I know as a young child there are some things that you just don't need to know or don't have the possibility to understand. But, some other things I would have been able to understand and should have known. Maybe if there were more books and tv shows like Arthur explaining death and cancer then my parents would have been able to better explain the situation to me. I know that I was not the only child to experience something similar to this, so thinking about the vast amount of children that could benefit from such literature is amazing to think about. This could really be something to help children cope and it should not be something that we are afraid to talk about.
I think that death should be taught in the classroom. While it is a hard subject to discuss, it is something that children should learn about. I imagine there are plenty of books that the teacher could read to their students on death that would be relevant. This subject is touchy, but it shouldn't be ignored. Unlike some of the other controversial subjects, everyone experiences death and I think it should be taught to children.
I think that the Arthur episodes were a great idea! The characters on childrens shows are people that children look up to. Although a child may not want to sit and listen to a parent or teacher, they love watching their characters on their favorite shows. Shows can through in learning lessons and the child will hardly notice. All children have to deal with death at some point of their life. Its a very hard subject to deal with, but it needs to be dealt with. Each parent is going to have his/her own way of dealing with death, and its something that will be mostly dealt with at home. There will also be counselors in your school who are specially trained to deal with death and the feelings of children. If a child is dealing with death, then yes you will have to deal with it in your classroom but I don't think it should be on a large scale. As for books for children, I looked up some books and saw one for cancer called "1. Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy", and also a lot dealing with grieving such as "The fall of Freddy the Leaf" which is actually a book which helped me deal with the death of my favorite uncle at age 6. All kids deal with death at some point. My favorite uncle died, my boyfriends mom died of cancer, both Leonara and Esther had moms who had died in "witness", and there was death in Hugo and Esperanza as well.
I thnk you have written a very insightful blog and I couldn't agree more with your opinions. I think if we can educate children in a subtle way about issues of death or sicknesses in a way that is going to incorporate a television show or even source of common literature that they enjoy that is perfect. As teachers we will need to be prepared to deal with death in the classroom, as you mentioned. However, if programs like Arthur continue to sponsor these types of episodes and informational inserts, it leaves the opportunity for children to develop better coping mechaisms. Would you rather have a child be aware of an illness or hear about it the first time when a family member passes away from it? I think the answer is simple and most would agree. I really enjoyed your blog!
After reading this article about Cancer shown in TV shows it made me think more about how to teach kids about it and help them through some of the hardest times. From personal experience, I know how hard it can be on a family when one of the members is diagnosed with cancer. It is not an easy subject to talk about, and may seem even harder to talk about with children. However, if the the children aren't fully informed on the situation they might be confused by the circumstances. Sometimes a child hears cancer and automatically thinks death, but if they knew more about it they might actually come to find out that a lot of people can survive from certain kinds of cancer. I think this episode of cancer will be very helpful in my future. The mentioned there are lesson plans for it and I will definitely look into it when I become a teacher.
On the subject for teaching books about death, I can't believe there are not a lot of books talking about it. I never really thought about it till it was mentioned in a previous article for this class. However, I think more authors should start touching on the subject a little. Many children can relate and having a book about it, can help them through the rough times.
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