When parents await the birth of a child, they often create a birth plan. They decide whether they want the birth to be in a hospital, a birthing center, or in the privacy of their own home. They set guidelines as to which procedures they would like to have followed, and where they want to spend those first few precious days as they adjust to life with their newborn.

In the same way, we have the right to create a death plan, an advanced health care directive outlining the procedures we wish to be taken at the event of our death. We can choose whether to be buried or cremated, as well as where and how we would like our body to be cared for during the precious days between death and burial. Being in the presence of a loved one after death helps us adjust to the enormity of what has just happened. It eases us gently into the transition period of life after loss, and helps bring a deep, personal sense of closure.

By bringing the funeral into the home, we demystify death, and help ourselves and our children accept and embrace this often fearful aspect of life.

Contrary to what many people assume, children, when properly guided, readily accept the death process and willingly, even joyfully, participate in home funerals.