Pet Loss Counseling for Kids: Creating a Remembrance Spot

"One thing you can do, with your children, after the loss of a pet, is to create a special spot of remembrance. We did that with one of our dogs and as you can see right here, it's essentially a shelf that includes different objects that have meaning and will help us to remember him. I've got his scarf that he used to wear around his neck, right here, and this is the urn, that contains some of the ashes. We also have pictures, scattered throughout. As you can see he had a pretty rough life. We also put in here, sympathy cards that people gave us at the time that he died. His memory jar is over here. This special place can be very useful or helpful for children to be able to, again, help to set up but also a place for them to go if they are feeling sad or if they just want to think more about the animal and just remember more. They can sit there, you can have photo albums there and it just gives them a contained, safe place for them to process all the feelings that they have, about their pet, and help them through the grieving process."