Should children be allowed to view?
ABSOLUTELY! Martha-Louise believes they should be given the opportunity to view, but if they don’t want to, then that too, should be respected. She believes that it is often the adults who have a problem with viewing and they make a judgement call on behalf of the children saying it would be too distressing when really they are imposing their ideas on to their children. Children don’t realize the finality of death and therefore deal with it in a different way. As an 8 year old, Martha-Louise viewed her mother who had died of breast cancer and applauds her late father for being such a strong advocate of involving her in all aspects of her mother’s death and funeral. “I have had parents nervously bring in their children to view a grandparent and after a few minutes of the children standing on chairs to look inside the casket and asking a few questions say, “can we go to the park now” or “can we go to McDonalds?”. Meanwhile the parents are bereft and the children have moved on! I have met people in their 60’s who were prevented as children from seeing their parents and have carried that anguish with them through the years. Whilst nervous about viewing someone, they feel afterwards they have gone some way to eliminating the past.