> I've had some go-rounds with my son on this that have been challenging. The
> death of children -- something hard to explain, accept -- has hit us a
> couple of times in the last 2 years, and here people fall back on the simple
> "s/he's in heaven now" when it explaining it to the young ones. For me,
> this is *not* an OK "solution", but what's the alternative with a 4-6 year
> old? How handy (some) religions would be in such situations.
My father just died. My four (almost five) year old son was out to visit him the week before--the death was expected. He'd been ill with liver an pancreatic cancer. I told Joel the truth, the Grandpa was dead, and that meant he wasn't here anymore, or anywhere else; death means you don't exist anymore. He was and is sad and misses his Grandpa, whom he loved very much, but he wasn't broken up. In fact, with the usual little-kid perversity, when we explained thand Grandpa's body was to be cremated, which meant burned up, he wanted to know if he could see Grandpa being burned up. The idea sort of fsacinated him.
--jks