A year ago our house rabbit, Moppet, passed away at the grand old age of nearly 11. LM took it quite well and understood that Moppet was now buried (very deep & under some rocks for fear of the foxes disinterring him) in the garden, happy because he was no longer suffering from afore-mentioned old age & illness.
However, today LM was helping me with the cleaning & I asked him to put something in the utility room. When he looked at me blankly I said, "You know, Moppet's room" as that was where the rabbit had his living quarters & we had always referred to it so. LM paused for thought & asked, "When will Moppet come out of his hole in the ground?" Death isn't an easy thing to explain & not wanting to go too deeply into the subject I just explained again about how Moppet had been old & ill & so was much happier now, sleeping in his hole & he wouldn't wake up.
To which LM replied "Well, when Daddy snores he won't be able to sleep!"
I had no answer for that.
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| Moppet RIP |
I'm impressed with LM's memory and it seems Moppet made a big impression on him. Luckily we haven't had to deal with the death of a pet in our house yet but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. My sons (6 and 3) disturb me because they say things like 'bang bang you're dead' to each other. But really they don't understand what being dead means, they always assume you come alive again. It's tricky to know how much you explain this or leave it until they're older.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. I hate it when LM is playing & says "He's deaded me!" I know he doesn't really understand & that if I make a fuss about saying it he'll just be tempted to say it more but I find it upsetting all the same
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