As the nation is confronted by a month of floods, fires and tragic accidents, psychologist Sandy Rea says children need to be taught to grieve.

Ms Rea tells Deborah Knight a lot of young children don’t understand the finality of death, which can be challenging for parents.

The first step, she says, is to make sure families are appropriately equipped to talk about grief, trauma, and “unimaginable” events like the deaths of the Abdallah children.

“There has to be developmentally appropriate language. How you speak to a five or six-year-old is very different to how you’d speak to a teenager.”

Her advice to parents and carers is to role model coping behaviours, use realistic language, and find ways to memorialise lost loved ones.

“We want children to have a tangible way of understanding this grief.”

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview

Image: Getty/seksan Mongkhonkhamsao