DD's hamster died last night. Should we bury her together?

[missrandom]

Morning

So we expected her hamster to die as she'd been bleeding and was always sleeping. She was also 2, which is quite old for a hamster I guess. I was actually quite relieved when I found her this morning, because I didn't want to have to disturb her and take her to the vets to be put to sleep, when she could peacfully slip away at home, which she did thankfully.

DD is 5 and this is her first pet. I have already explained to her that she's not going to be with us for much longer and she got a little upset, but not too bad and said that it was ok cos she'd be a star in the sky. So i'm not sure whether or not I should buryher before she gets back from school and explain to her that she's no longer with us and that she's now a star, like she was expecting. She understands about death, so I don't think there's anything wrong with buttering it up a bit, if it helps ease her pain a bit. However, i'm not sure how important it is for her to actually see her being burried. Afterall, this is what happens to all living creatures in the end.

If this was a year down the line, I wouldn't be hesitating, but she's rather emotionally immauture and if something has upset her particuarly, her behaviour becomes almost uncontrolable.

What does anyone think?

Thanks for reading.

When my daughters mouse died she was the same age and we had the exact same thoughts, my daughter decorated a little box for her to go in and a made a little cross out of lolly sticks, I think it helped to involve her, (although DH did the actual digging and burying) she cried quite a bit but was better by the next day, the other mouse, and 2 gerbils have since gone as well, none have got quite the same elaborate send off ( we are now on to guinea pigs!) hope that helps, poor little thing it's awful to see them upset (I cried at her crying!)

I always think that one of the reasons we have pets is that our children get to experience the rituals of death before it is a family member. To this a family friends who are a military family have buried two hamsters and a cat with full military honours.