On Grief: From One Child to Another

Milly Bell was seven years old when her father died from a brain tumor. With the encouragement of her mother, she used drawing and painting to help ease her grief.

When Milly learned that she isn't the only kid to have lost a parent, she wanted to share what she had learned. The resulting book, My Daddy is Dying, was assembled by her mother and is now being published with help from her father’s former employer and FORCE, a UK cancer survivor charity.

"I wrote about the things I found difficult like going to sleep. I hope that my book helps other children and lets them know they are not alone." (BBC)

Some of Milly’s suggested activities include: making a color-coded “feeling chart”; creating a recipe for a “happy feelings cake” and drawing a picture of what it would look like; and, drawing a “circle of life” diagram to illustrate how all living things, including plants and animals, live and die.

PDF’s of some of Milly’s activities are available from FORCE’s website.