Today, out of the blue during breakfast, my 6 year old asked me about his great-grandfather. He remembered him, as he had a lot of fun everytime he visited the ancestral home. I was quite surprised as he was quite young at that time. I had earlier explained to him that his great grandfather died because he was old. He didn’t quite grasp the concept of death, so I told him, he went to sleep for a very long time and would never wake up.
At that time, he looked at me and took it as it was.
But today…he asked, if his great grandfather was sleeping in the ancestral home. No, I told him. He has been burnt (cremated). He was so shocked. He asked why would anyone want to burn him and who would do it.
I told him, it was his grandfather who burned his own father. It was something one had to do, when someone dies. I didn’t know how else to explain it. I just went with the truth.
My poor sensitive lil man, broke down and cried. He cried and cried and didn’t understand why anyone would want to burn someone and then bury them.
Sigh…these are the times when I wished we had an old pet…which died naturally. This is one way he’d learn what death means. I learnt it this way. All I could do was just comfort him and say that his great grandfather is in a better place where he’d feel no more pain and could do anything he wanted.
That cheered him up abit. Then he finished his breakfast and decided to “Power Up”. As in Power Rangers.
Kids. They bounce back so fast!
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That’s so hard for little ones to understand. My daughter’s grandfather died when she was almost 3. We went to the bookstore and found a book called “Lifetimes: The Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children” by Bryan Mellonie. It explained that every living thing has a lifetime, some are short, and some are very long, and it is a natural part of life, for the tiniest ant to the largest of animals, including ourselves.
hahaha!! power rangers!! beh tahan..*damn funny!*
Your little boy very compassionate leh.
When Kimberly and Ashley ask about their KohPoh and why she is lying down in “wooden bed”, I just told them that she died and wont be waking up anymore, just like those gold fish who died. You are right leh, having pets does help.