Good Inside with Dr. Becky Helping Kids Through Loss with Grief Expert David Kessler
Dec 9, 2025
In this conversation, grief expert David Kessler, known for his extensive work on bereavement, shares insights on how to help children navigate loss. He discusses how kids often blame themselves and the importance of honesty and connection in their grieving process. David emphasizes the value of modeling grief for children and the complexities of talking about death. With poignant anecdotes from his own life, he highlights that grief can transform into love and the necessity of teaching children healthy coping skills.
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Grief Is Love And Unwanted Change
- Kessler defines grief as two things: grief is love and grief is a change we didn't want.
- This simple framing helps parents name and normalize many forms of loss beyond death.
Rewrite Childhood Stories To Find Compassion
- Revisit and rewrite childhood narratives about others' actions to find compassion and reduce ongoing blame.
- Kessler advises exploring the adult perspective to hold both childhood pain and adult understanding.
Witness Grief Instead Of Distracting It
- Witness your child's grief rather than distracting it away with activities or fixes.
- Say you see their pain and stay present so they don't feel alone in it.