Death and dying are a natural and inevitable process that all living creatures experience at some point in life, whether it be their own death or that of a dear friend or family member. Along with the experience of death comes the grieving process which means facing and coping with the loss of your loved one. Any living being can grieve and relate to a loss, even children (Shortle, Young, & Williams, 1993). “Childhood grief and the loss of family and friends can have immediate and lasting consequences including depression, anxiety, social withdrawal, behavioral disorders, and poor academic performance” (Kaufman & Kaufman, 2006, p. 61). American children today grow up in cultures that attempt to avoid pain and deny the inevitability of death (Shortle, Young, & Williams, 1993). Irreversibility, definitiveness, inevitability and causality are the four factors relating to a child's understanding of death. These four components are related to the child's developmental level at the time of death (Willis, 2002). According to Andrews and Marotta (2005), “developmental level has a direct influence on how children conceptualize and cope with death” (p. 39). There are four factors related to the perception of a child's death. The first is irreversibility. During irreversibility, children do not understand that death cannot be reversed, and it is even more difficult for someone to understand death when they have never experienced it before. Finality is the second factor, children do not understand that it is final and cannot be fixed or reversed (Kaufman & Kaufman, 2006). Children get easily confused with time and how it changes throughout the day, month, year and even seasons, so it's even harder to o...... middle of paper ....... , & Kaufman, North Carolina (2006). And then the dog died. Death Studies, 30, 61-76. Kirst-Ashman, K. K. & Hull, G. H., Jr. (2006). Understanding generalist practice. (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson.Perry, B.D. (2001). Death and loss: Helping children manage their grief. Early Childhood Today, 15(4), 22-23.Shorle, C.N., Young, P.A., & Williams, M.A. (1993). Understanding death and grief for children three years old and younger. Social Work, 38(6), 736-740.Wass, H. (2003). A perspective on the current state of death education. Death Studies, 28, 298-308.Willis, C. A. (2002). The grieving process in children: Strategies for understanding, educating, and reconciling children's perceptions of death. Journal of Early Childhood Education, 29(4), 221-226. Zastrow, C., & Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2007). Understanding human behavior and the social environment. (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson.