Children’s everyday manifestations of grief and grieving in early childhood education and care

ABSTRACT

This article investigates children’s everyday manifestations of grief and grieving situations. Medical and psychological approaches to grief and grieving usually focus on the death of loved ones. It is argued that everyday grief and grieving in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is present in social situations where loneliness and withdrawal are experienced by children. A cultural–historical approach was used to examine everyday grief and grieving in the preschool setting. Video observations were made of Mayra, a 5-year-old girl living in a rural Mexican community. The findings show that grief and grieving are affected by children’s social situations, the material conditions of the location and the adult’s role in compassionate approach in alleviating grief. Implications from this study highlight the need to examine everyday situations where children experience loneliness and withdrawal when relating to peers as a part of children’s larger frame of grief.

KEYWORDS:

• Everyday grief and grieving
• peers
• loneliness
• early childhood education and care
• cultural–historical theory

Acknowledgements

Thank-you to the teacher, children and families who participated in the study. Thank you for the reviewer's suggestions that helped improve the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gloria Quiñones

Gloria Quiñones is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Australia. Her research on children’s emotions, peer relations and friendships, infant-toddlers play and affective pedagogies. Recent publications include a book on ‘Affective Early Childhood Pedagogy for Infant-Toddlers’.

Lasse Lipponen

Lasse Lipponen is a professor of early childhood education, at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki. His research work is directed to cultures of compassion; inclusion; and play. He has authored over 100 research articles on teaching and learning, and is a recipient of several awards, such as Helsinki University ‘Good Teacher’ Magister Bonus prize.

Annukka Pursi

Annukka Pursi is a Post-Doctor Fellow at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland. She has published several papers on the organisation of two-year-old children’s play. Her research focuses on how connections are created and maintained through play in adult-child interaction.

Melissa Barnes

Melissa Barnes is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, working within the fields of teacher education, assessment, policy and TESOL. She teaches and leads research initiatives that focus on policy construction, interpretation and enactment, with a focus on how policies impact and shape teaching and learning.