URGENT-------Guinea pig is dead, do I tell them now are after school once I've buried it???--------URGENT

[LadyTophamSortingHatt]

DS2+3 won't really care

Ds1 will be upset whenever i tell them,.....

[XcupcakemummyX]

later
then you make a little burial place

[LadyTophamSortingHatt]

Blimey, I can't bury it with them here.

Ds1 will be in bits (even though he's never shown any interest to it (well them, buthe other one died a while ago)

[Leati]

Okay this is really going to sound awful. Tell them it got out and ran away. Less heart breaking.

[SecondhandRose]

No after school, as soon as you bring them out so they have a while to used to it before bed. You need to buy together in the garden, all part of grieving process.

We are still upset after losing our hamster 6 months ago.

[3sEnough]

I agree - get a nice comfy, biodegradable bed of straw/leaves or such like - a few flowers and bury it together - let ds1 say the eulogy.

[BreeVanDerCampLGJ]

I am with Leati...

[SecondhandRose]

If you tell them it has run away they'll spend the next 6 months looking for it and even more upset for wondering what has eaten it in the garden.

[BreeVanDerCampLGJ]

Good point SHR.

[EmilyDavidson]

I would wait for them to get home tonight then tell them and then all have a little funeral together. Have all the funeral stuff ready ie dig the hole and have GP in a little box, so there isnt any hanging around.
very important to say goodbye properly if at all possible

[Leati]

I had a bunny die. I know this is awful but I told my kids it went to find it family because it was loney without other bunnies. I don't know how old your kids are but it worked real well. They just assumed thier bunny was as happy as could be with his family.

[Leati]

Don't hate me! I just didn't have the heart to tell them.

[OggswartsExpress]

I don't believe you should shy away from death in any form regardless of the age of the dc. It's all part of life and should not be seen as a taboo subject.
It's easier to start explaining about death with pets as an example. When a realative/friend dies would you tell your dc that they have "run away", or gone away to live with somebody else?
Take this as an opportunity for a stage of learning. Children are much more resilient than we often give them credit for.
Good luck .

[OggswartsExpress]

After all that waffle I still didn't actually answer your op...
... I'd go along with the other suggestions.
Don't tell them until they come home from school.
Have a hole dug ready in a quiet part of the garden. (Quite a deep one, you don't want him re-appearing in a few weeks time when a fox gets inquisitive)
Have a little "ceremony" when you all share memories of the GP, and say goodbye.
Then go indoors and do something to take their minds off it.
Also, remove any reminders such as cage, food etc.
hth

[LadyTophamSortingHatt]

I'm going to bury him now.

This sound unbelieveably heartless but I've got soooo much stuff going on atm I can't be faffed with the elongated funeral when they get home.

I've got loads of bits of drift wood from the beach so thay can make a little cross to mark the grave as they did with "teabag"(the one that died a while ago).

[Lucycat]

make sure you put a big stone on the top of GP (rip) cos a fox will come and dig him up in the middle of the night if you don't.


been there done that

[Lucycat]

sorry oggy - read your post now - gawd the rain is turning my brain to mush

[OggsWartsExpress]

Ooh, what a heartless wench you are
Are you religious? If not, why not let them build a mini cairn instead.
They can run around collecting little stones and rocks and incorporate the driftwood and some flowers in it.

[Pollyanna]

LTH dd1s gp died recently and the only person who cried was me . She was slightly upset but carried on fine, even asking within minutes of discovering she was dead if she could get another one. She was slightly quiet about it.

we didn't do a funeral, or even a burial (dh disposed of the body I suspect in with the rubbish).

I wouldn't lie about it escaping - my children have all dealt with the death of the GP fine, even looking at the body etc (it died overnight and was pretty stiff when discovered).

[cazzybabs]

Tell them after school - life and death is part of life...better to get use to the idea of death by the loss of a pet rather than an adult. I always think it is better to be honset with children - what would you say if Granny had died - oh no she has run away too?

[MrsScavo]

I dont' know about your DC's, but mine would want to SEE it dead, before it was buried.

I

[tortoiseSHELL]

Ds1 was MUCH better about the rabbits when we let him help bury them - he was able to say goodbye to them, and was then able to talk about his feelings about them. The same with dd and her chicken - she saw it dead and said goodbye, and is fine about it.

[LadyTophamSortingHatt]

Yikes, theres no way I would have let them see it dead.

It was alive yesterday evening but obviously died in the night so was getting abit stiff. It freaked me aout to pick it up so the Ds's would have been horrified.

I dug the hole as dip as I could, about 18" I suppose as the earth was almost solid clay, and then covered that area with bark chipping that honk to high heaven(no pun intended) so no foxy will sniff out our dead GP.



oggs, what a cairn? we're not religious so maybe that will be better.

[MrsScavo]

My DC's are quite into dead things. They've been know to take photos of dead birds, etc. I would have made DH deal with it though- I'm far too squeemish!

[tortoiseSHELL]

LTH - if you have a stone slab/a few bricks etc then it might be an idea to cover it if you have foxes in the area - a fox dug up our rabbit from 2' down .

[butterbeer]

Cairn is basically a pile of stones -- like this although probably smaller in the case of a guinea pig.