Goodbye JoJo

On Tuesday 16th November, KIDSPACE children and teachers said goodbye to our guinea pig JoJo. He died peacefully the night before. Libby helped Ann to make a special little box for him to be buried in. The children gathered on the mat outside after morning tea and we held a tangi for JoJo. I told the children what had happened.. our little friend JoJo had died. The children felt sad and asked 'why?' questions, that we simply could not answer. I walked around with JoJo and showed the children. They could give him a little pat if they wanted to. We sung our KIDSPACE song to JoJo to say goodbye. Jess dug his hole in the ground, for where he would be buried. We lay him in there, and I took the children 3-4 at a time, to have a look, sprinkle glitter and say goodbye.

At the mat time after lunch, Jessie also talked to the children about how they are feeling. These were some of the replies: 'Happy because JoJo is in a special box (Caelyn), 'I feel sad. I made a box for JoJo with glue and glitter on it' (Libby), 'I'm feeling sad because I want to hold JoJo' (Jorja), 'Watching JoJo in the hole (in the garden)' (Emily), 'JoJo died with her eyes open' (Kian), 'I feel sad. I wanted to cry because she died' (Lyrique).

Healthy self-esteem helps children to deal with feelings of sadness. Many things can make a child feel sad, and for different reasons. When children can identify their sad feelings, and make sense of the losses that underlie them, they build the self-trust needed to cope, accept and move on (When im feeling sad by Trace Moroney).

Ainslee