A criança diante da morte: os benefícios do lúdico na segunda infância para a vivência do luto saudável

Abstract

The carried-out research had, as its main objective, the investigation of the benefits of playfulness in second childhood for the experience of healthy mourning. In order to achieve this purpose, it was, initially, necessary to characterize the childhood of 3-6 years; describe the benefits of ludic strategy in second childhood and its importance in terms of the child's cognitive, emotional and social aspects; then, the understanding of death from the perspective of second childhood was investigated and how the experience of mourning in this phase is qualified; and finally, there was an effort to demonstrate the relationship between playfluness and the child’s grief, emphasizing how the first contributes for the child to experience the loss of a family member or close person. The study is characterized by narrative research of qualitative literature, with an exploratory purpose, which instruments used were physical books, articles and virtual journals that were analyzed and discussed from the hypothetical-deductive method perspective. The results pointed out to the importance of addressing the topic of death with children and to the benefits of playfulness as a tool that provides opportunities for children to understand and elaborate on the events they experience, such as the death of someone. As a conclusion there can be said that when playing, the child is able to get in touch with the reality of loss and find better ways to express the emotions and feelings caused by death. Thus, it will be possible to provide reception and assistance in coping with fatality, understanding that the experience of mourning must be validated and assisted in childhood.