Question

An 8-year-old child has experienced the death of a sister. the child begins to ask many questions about what happens to the body after death. the parents wonder whether this is abnormal or morbid behavior picked up from playing video games. what is the best response by the nurse

Answer 1

Hi!

This is a very subjective question, and it is quite frustrating to answer. Because my 'best' may not be your 'best' and so on. So, please do answer this question on your own.

However, I can help try to make you get a grasp on the situation. Do you think it's abnormal for a child to only ask questions of a possible life after death when her sister dies?

Well...

If she has been playing all these 'bad' video games, wouldn't she be asking this sooner as soon as she see's the first sign of death? Hmm...

Or maybe she's asking because her sister just died, and she's traumatised and wants to know where she is. Because of the age, she doesn't exactly have a full grasp of life and death yet.

In my person opinion, this is not abnormal or even close to morbid behaviour. If this were to be an effect of video games, she would have expressed such behaviour much sooner.

This little girl just lost her sister. This is a terrible, tragic event. It would almost just be offensive to just say 'Oh, it's just those video games messing with her head!'

Hopefully, this helps! =)

Answer 2

Answer: Not really.

Step-by-step explanation: if this behavior was caused by videogames, it should have been evident before this happened. Also, videogames have this bad reputation, but in reality, there are a lot of studies that say that videogames don't really influence their behavior that much, compare with other factors.

The nurse needs to explain to the parents that this curiosity is completely normal. The child just experienced the loss of a sibling, which can be a traumatic event, and in the future, this kid could develop "survivor guilt", which is very common in these cases. It is okay to be curious, especially when you are 8 years old, and this can be a way of dealing and coping with the whole situation.