making sense of life and death

[sesley]

Now he is 13.The rabbit and fish died. He had know real emotion about them only they were ill.. Last year his granny died at 93. He could not quite get the process of the funeral,he had a ipad to keep him amused on the talking bits. He was interested in the hole and the digger. Dropped the dirt on the coffin with everyone else and dropped a flower in too,just copying what everyone else was doing,he talks about that advert with the old man and the baby for Marie Cure i think, about terminal care.he asks Granny was sick wasn't she?He is aware to be safe crossing the road a flat head means dead and gone from us for good,not regenerated like in computer games. so its matter of processing what death is and what it means. Interesting conversations every now and then about it.

[Noskcaj86]

My son has no concept of death yet, but then hes 4 and a half so i guess thats to be expected.

[Lyndalou]

I think that death is a pretty difficult concept for kids to get their heads around. I can remember being very upset about the family dog dying when I was about 6 but then my Gran died the following year and I don't remember understanding it very well. My thought is that having animals can be a good 'introduction' to life and death, even if it is just explained in the simplest terms at first. It's part of the reason I just decided to get a hamster; so my children can care for her and when the time comes they can say 'Goodbye'. I think the fact your lad is speaking about his Gran Sesley shows that the advert has triggered memories of his granny and I think this kind of discussion should be encouraged and is very healthy.

[Sally44]

My son saw his grandad in hospital. He was in an induced coma and died shortly afterwards.

 

I also took him with me to the funeral home so that he could see grandad and say goodbye. He definately got it because he promised he would look after Nana, and he asked his Grandad not to forget the family.

 

Just recently he has started talking about things happening to his 'ancestors' and how their 'memories' are in his head, but he can't quite get them. And if he has a fall out with one of the other kids in school he will say 'maybe his ancestor did something bad to my ancestor and that is why we are falling out.' So what is that about??? reincarnation???