Children
How do you explain death to children? I have vague memories of my mother telling me that, when someone dies, I can’t play with them anymore. They won’t be around today or tomorrow. I remember sitting on the couch in our living room and realizing, perhaps for the first time, the permanency of that thought. But my mother also offered me hope ..which, at that age, I especially needed. She told me some of her own spiritual and religious thoughts, as well as the fact that life is long and runs in cycles of youth progressing into age. And that is what I remember of that conversation.
Today I came across a list of books explaining death to kids. The topic can be so abstract, so confusing to children. The book titles include things like When Dinosaurs Die: A Guide to Understanding Death (Brown, Laurie Krasny and Marc Brown) and Everett Anderson’s Goodbye (Clifton, Lucille). More of the list items can be found with a simple Google search.
This is also an issue that must impact many people who visit Respectance.
With that mind, how did you or your children first learn about death?
26 Mar
