Death and Children

@kitkat1 (1227)
Canada
April 1, 2007 10:56pm CST
How do you help a young child understand the concept of the life cycle and death. How can you help them deal with it. My daughter does not seem to really be able to grasp the fact of not being able to see her loved ones again. She knows about heaven and hell and that scares her if she thinks that one of her loved one did not make it to heaven and went to hell. What can i do to help her understand and feel better about this?
5 people like this
5 responses
• Canada
2 Apr 07
I would try by telling her that her loved one's were good people and for this reason they are in Heaven with God and that she can always talk to them whenever she wants to but that although they can hear her they will not be able to answer her that they are there watching over her everyday and love her very much at that one day , when it is her time , she will be able to see them again . Maybe you could try finding a good book at the library that would have a nice story that would make it easier for her to understand . You can request a book by asking and even if you don't have a name of one you can describe what you would be looking for and they maybe able to help you out also . This is very hard for young children to understand as we don't understand ourselves fully how it works , which makes it more difficult to explain to them how we know for sure and what there really is to know . Hope I was able to give you some idea's and hopefully she won't worry about this too much as this could be scary for a little one for sure to comprehend . Best of luck !!
2 people like this
• India
3 Apr 07
let her understand Man proposes God disposes. Initially tell her divine stories and make her understand the role of god in protecting good people. then she would automatically understand the life cycle.
1 person likes this
@youdontsay (3497)
• United States
2 Apr 07
You didn't say how old your daughter is, which makes a difference in her understanding level. You might show her how plants grow and bloom and die. Some of them come up again and some don't. The ones that do come up again aren't the exact same leaves and blooms as the year before. So we can't see last year's leaves and blooms anymore. But there are new plants for us to enjoy and take care of. The plant cycle is the same as ours. We grow, bloom, and die. Some of us are "reborn". And there are always new people coming into and out of our lives. You might also use the example of a pet dying if she experienced that. The questions about heaven and hell are not answerable by us. We don't know who goes to heaven because we don't know God's mind. We have a forgiving God and even big sins can be forgiven. There is always the hope of heaven.
@kurtbiewald (2625)
• United States
2 Apr 07
maybe tell her its like easter eggs that we decorate they are beautiful BECAUSE they are fragile some of em break, some don't its just how life is we are animals, designed for 40 years, sometimes we get 80 or 90 its quality, not quantity that counts avoid the large risks, then live, don't let anyone or anything stop you call me in an emergency, maybe when you are 40 you need a couple years of stability and sanity, if I am alive then you will have it
1 person likes this
• United States
3 Apr 07
just sit down and let her know all the good people go to heaven and you are a good person and just tell her god loves all the good people.
1 person likes this