“Sometimes I feel like I’m not supposed to think about death, but I do anyway” - exploring the topic of death with children in schools to help them find meaning and foster their wellbeing

Abstract The quest to give a meaning to life has spanned centuries, from Plato to the existentialist philosophers and psychologists in the 20th century. Among existential questions that are quasi-universal, those around death occupy a large place. Children, just like adults, strive to allocate and question the meaning of life—and death. In this review and commentary, we will outline how acknowledging and exploring children’s existential questions about death can help them find meaning in life and foster their wellbeing. Anchoring our discussion in existential psychology and discussing how founding principles of this approach can be translated into a pedagogy of death, we aim to show how navigating difficult and potentially distressing questions and emotions related to death with children can have beneficial impacts on their mental health, notably in schools. Specifically, we will reflect on and offer recommendations for how we can talk about death with children in school settings.