It sure is!
And this has been well-covered by the press.
Here is a good article from Jyllands Posten:
https://jyllands-posten.dk/indland/ECE11660140/doeden-er-en-af-de-mest-naturlige-ting-i-livet/
Mary visited Frydenhøj School in Hvidover - a suburb to Copenhagen.
here she visited school children who took part in the annual media-competition.
The topic being: "Death, surely that's something we talk about." - Implying of course that we, and perhaps children in particular, don't.
Three of the largest newspapers in DK are behind this competition, hence the good coverage... Including Jyllands Posten.
But also an organization aimed at helping and informing children and young who grieve.
But at this school today, the atmosphere was electric!
"She's coming!"
Mary walked down corridors packed with children, waving flags and cheering her, some girls had even dressed up like princesses. A smiling Mary is presented with several drawings.
She enters the classroom of 7A and here things calm down and they get down to business.
Mary talks about her grief when she lost her mother, and how those around her didn't feel like talking about it.
Marys says: "Death is very much a taboo in our society. At the same time it's one of the most natural things in life.
Two out of three children in grief never or rarely talk with someone about how they feel. That's very sad.
You can well understand why it's difficult, because you don't want to make the person who has lost someone sad, if you mention it, but you can really be a help by asking into the feelings."
The class has been divided into a domestic, foreign and cultural editorial offices.
They have been tasked with writing about a suicide-forest in Japan (spooky subject!), cancer, the death penalty, true crime and formulate a plan for dealing with deaths at the school.
In January the best paper/class will be declared the winner.
One of those tasked with writing up a plan for dealing with deaths at the school is twelve year old Hashim Rasul.
"My subject is grief at the school and how the teachers and the school deal with students who have lost someone. I have been talking with the school-psychologist and a girl from our class who lost her mother when she was eight."
The school gave the girl a number of cards, she could use when she felt like it. In one of them it read that she would like to leave the class.
"But I'd like to change that a little, because it only says that you can leave on your own and I believe it's important that someone go along, so you are not alone, but have someone to talk to and share your feelings with."
A thirteen year old girl, Karoline Fæster Andersen, has chosen to focus on suicide and how a friend of her mother committed suicide. Her mother felt it helped her a lot by going to a clairvoyant. The mother found an inner calm that way."
Mary is impressed and she talks about how she and her own family deal with death. (Grandpapa and the Holck children!) "We try to be open about it, so that they dare ask questions about death and show concern for other who have lost someone."
The manager of the grief-association mentioned above, Preben Engelbrekt, explains that the first year is the worst and that friends often misjudge how long a grief lasts.
"Basically those left behind grieve the rest of their lives, but for many the first year is really difficult, and during that the surroundings believe you have moved on."
And he offers a piece of advice:
"You typically say to those left behind: You can always call. But you should say: I will contact you. - Because there are basically none among those left behind who call their network."
