I was with my dad when he died, I saw him stop breathing and he was there with us, in the room. Very ill, laid in a bed, but there with us. When I saw him later in the funeral parlour, it was like looking at a dummy - a likeness of my dad - but he wasn't there - he had gone. When you look at the body in the funeral parlour, it is like looking at a shell of the person. There is no need to go unless you really, really want to. I touched my dad's cheek, and yes he was ice cold and rock hard, like something that had come out of the freezer.
To bring a child, and make them kiss the corpse is very cruel, I would have said - terrible thing to do to a child. Whatever was the mother thinking ! Give the child nightmares for years to come I would have thought.