Minimizing resistance to death education

Death education is now an accepted phenomenon within institutions of higher education. Death education is also being taught at the elementary and secondary school levels though less is known about its acceptance as a worthwhile pedagogical endeavor by parents of school-age children. This article addresses the potential sensitivity and hesitation parents may demonstrate relative to death education's delicate, multifaceted subject matter and offers some suggestions for minimizing possible resistance to death and dying pedagogy. Any resistance that parents demonstrate is generally due to their own fear of death and dying and their inability to deal realistically with it. Certain antecedents of fear and strategies for coping with fear are offered.