How do I explain death to my almost 3 year old?

[Blueuggboots]

Hi there, hoping for some help!
My OH's dad only has weeks to live and I need to talk to my son about it.
He knows he is ill but I need to introduce the thought that he's not going to get better without scaring my little boy.
It's not his grandad but he knows him.
Any thoughts gratefully received!!

So sorry for your situation

We went through the same when my DS was coming up to 3 years old. We chose not to tell him or his 5 year old sister that their Grandad was dying as we didn't want them to go through every day wondering if today was going to be the day.

Their grandad was in a hospice and we did tell them he wasn't getting any better but did not use the word dying. It just seemed that there would have been no definate end in sight for them, we didn't know ourselves whether it would be few days or a few weeks.

There's some great advice on Winstons Wish.

In the end DS was fine, DD took it a little harder and was convinced that if he hadn't gone to sleep that day, he wouldn't have died. They were up and down for a few months but kids are amazingingly resilient.

Take care & hugs to your OH

There are some brilliant books, we read to 3 1/2 year old when grandad died. They do tend to just accept it at that age IMO. It's my 7 who projects it on to himself.. "I don't want to die Mummy."

I would introduce the concept gemerally though rather thanspecifically relating to your OH's dad. Children that age don't need to worry about the future, and can unintentionally mak e hurtful comments. I.e. Mummy x isn't dead yet, you said he would die. And that would be awful.
My sympathies to your family.

Oldbeanbagz put it much much better than I did.