a website to help parents talk with their children about potentially sensitive topics:
Birth, Death, and Fantastical Beings
How much does my child know?
How much about the concept of death can my child really understand?
For children under 10 years old, death is typically seen as "going away"
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usually to a place designated for those who are dead (such as a cemetery or a coffin)
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there is an understanding that the person is not likely to return but they usually believe that the person is going to live in their new place
My child talks about people that have passed away as being asleep...
Studies have shown that children often assimilate death with sleep
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but the sleep is a permanent state in which the person is incapable of waking up
Hi, mom!
there are a few concepts that I need to understand before I can fully understand death...
1. Understanding that the dead cannot come back to life
2. understanding that all living things (and only living things) die eventually
3. The understanding that death is caused by a breakdown of bodily function
4. that death is unpredictable (the timing is not known in advance)
Children typically understand numbers 1 and 2 between the ages of 5 and 6 years.
The other concepts typically develop later, but usually children are able to understand all around age 7 (but varying slightly for each child)
For more information about how to handle talking about this topic with your child, visit the parent conversations page!