Child Bereavement UK have partnered with publisher Andersen Press to provide information and guidance for adults using Susan Varley’s much-loved picture book Badger’s Parting Gifts to help children understand and talk about death. Celebrating the 35th anniversary of this quintessential and multi-award-winning picture book about losing a loved one. Short films delivered by our support practitioners giving guidance on a range of bereavement topics. The new, 35 th anniversary edition of the book features a reading guide from Child Bereavement UK that provides tips for reading Badger’s Parting Gifts with children and helping them better understand grief.

A gentle book about loss and grief and the importance sharing memories. It is often used to help bereaved children talk about how they are feeling. The agony of losing a child of any age is unparalleled. There is no age or point in time that makes it any easier. No parent expects to face the death of their child and no grandparent expects to lose their grandchild. Badger's Parting Gifts' by Susan Varley is a classic, touching and moving tale of loss and friendship, Badger’s Parting Gifts provides comfort to children who may have lost a loved one and explains that grief can eventually give way to happy memories. Claire was supported by Child Bereavement UK in Edinburgh after her son Jamie died aged 10 from Covid-19. Education Shed Ltd, Severn House, Severn Bridge, Riverside North, Bewdley, Worcestershire, UK, DY12 1AB

Children and young people grieve just as much as adults but they show it in different ways. Find out how you can help them and more about child grieving. Published in 1984, Susan Varley set out to write something that might help others, having experienced the death of her own grandmother. Since then, the beautifully illustrated, sensitive and accessible story, gently exploring grief and loss, has aided parents, teachers and grandparents alike in starting conversations with young children about death of any kind. Features a helpful reading guide from Child Bereavement UK that provides tips for reading Badger's Parting Gifts with children and helping them better understand grief. When a baby lives only a short time or dies before birth due to miscarriage, stillbirth or a painful decision to end the pregnancy, people may assume that the loss is not important. This is simply not the case. Babies and young children have no understanding of the concept of death yet, long before they are able to talk, babies are likely to react to upset and changes in their environment brought about by the absence of a significant person.

A parent of children under 18 dies every 22 minutes in the UK; around 23,600 a year. This equates to around 111 children being bereaved of a parent every day. The death of a grandparent is often a child or young person’s first encounter with the death of someone important. Parents have a great deal to manage when their own parent or carer dies. There is the grief associated with their own loss, but also the reactions and responses of their children to the death of a grandparent. The idea for the story came from one of Susan Varley’s final year projects at Manchester Polytechnic. She had drawn a character of a badger and her tutor encouraged her to write a story about a badger who dies. Her grandmother had died the previous year, so the story idea resonated with her. Sign up to our newsletter and connect with us on social media to keep up to date with our latest news, activities and services. We'll never sell or swap your details with anybody else. You are free to change your mind at anytime. Sign up to our newsletterChild Bereavement UK designs and delivers training for professionals in health and social care, education, the emergency services and the voluntary and corporate sectors, equipping them to provide the best possible care to bereaved families. Badger is getting old and knows he is soon going to die. He isn’t afraid of dying but he is concerned about how his friends will feel. He tells them that one day he will go down the long tunnel. The forest animals grieve for him all winter then in the spring talk about the good memories they had of Badger. This Trustees' Week, we ask Lorna Ireland of our Board of Trustees why she became involved in supporting our work and what she's gained. It is important to tell a child of any age when someone important in their lives has died, and ideally this is done by someone who is closest to them.