A box for the memories

The sheet

Two pages to fill in together after a death: what your child would like to put in the box, and what they remember. The second page can go in the box too.

To fill in together · A4, two pages · Two pages · PDF, 51 KB

How it helps

After a death, children often worry that they’ll forget the person, or that it isn’t all right to talk about them. A box of things that remind your child, and a page of what they remember, keeps their memories somewhere they can go back to, and gives you a way to talk about the person together.

How to use it

1. Find a box together, or let your child choose one, and agree between the adults first which of the person’s things can go in.
2. Use the first page to choose what goes in, and ask your child why they chose each thing. Use copies of precious photographs, and keep medicines, lighters and anything sharp out of the box.
3. On the second page they write or draw what they remember, or tell you and you write it down. That page can go in the box too.
4. Your child can stop halfway and come back another day, and add to the box whenever they want to.
5. The sheet says when to talk to your child’s school or your GP, and what to do that day if something they say worries you, including any talk, even in passing, of wanting to join the person who has died.

How to get this sheet

This sheet comes with a subscription. It is also yours with its chapter, if that is the chapter you read free, or if a teacher or therapist sends it to you. School staff and therapists signed in to their shelf can print it too.

It goes with When a Child Is Grieving.

Free to print

These are free to anyone, with nothing to sign up for.

• A plan for a bad dayTo fill in together · A4
• Before you ring the schoolFor a call or a meeting · A4
• What to say: school and friendsCards to cut out · A4, eight cards to cut
• Before the SENCo meetingFor a meeting · A4
• Three reports, side by sideFor a meeting · A4 landscape
• The return-to-school meetingFor a meeting · A4
• The move to secondary school, for a parents’ eveningFor a parents’ evening · A4, five pages
• The last half-hour before bedFor the fridge · A4
• The worry ladderTo fill in together · A4
• Before you see the GP about your childFor an appointment · A4, two sides
• A record of what happenedFor a call or a meeting · A4, two pages
• The people I can tellTo make together · A4, two pages

Every sheet, marked free or with a subscription, is at theparentbook.com/printables.