My youngest cousin sadly and very unexpectedly died last night, he was only 20 months , I can't begin to think what his parents and big brother must be going through.
DD is 6 and this is the first death that has really affected her. The family live abroad but visit frequently and DD has always got on so well with them, especially their older DS who is her age. We told her what had happened this morning and she was very quiet for a few minutes and then said she was going to write in her secret diary. Anyway she came back and sat on my knee and we had a hug and a cry together and then she asked me, "Mummy, what will they do with him now?".
Now I haven't really given much thought to how to explain this to her and I am not at all religious, and I was surprised at the words that suddenly seemed right when she asked. I told her that now little G has died he doesn't need his body and bones anymore, and so his family will have a funeral for him and bury or burn them, and that the special bit inside him that made him G isn't in them anymore, that that bit has gone into everything now and is still here with us in our memories.
I want to get my thoughts more ordered for answering her future questions as I think there will be many coming. I also don't really know where my explanation came from, it was strange the way the words just fell into my mouth, and I hope it was right as it was completely not thought through. I was wondering how anyone else had helped their DC's make sense of this?