Today's adventure in parenting:
The youngest found a small lizard floating in the pool and got up a ruckus. I giraffeed it out and told him it had drowned but since he was wearing his gardening gloves I let him check it out. He got a little attached, and by dinner time I had figured out his plot; if it was alive he figured I'd let him keep it as a pet. So, that plan led to about half an hour of him hoping it really was alive with me telling him (as soft as I could) that it was a dead as a plank, and that means it ain't coming back. So of course we had some crying and tears and after a few hugs and back pats we came around to getting a shovel and having a burial in the garden.
Then we watched Mythbusters and had a talk about how if the lizards brother came around to be caught that maybe we could pull out an aquarium for his room and keep that guy around.
It is a damn fine line to walk sometimes, my miggroids, to be honest without being harsh, which isn't exactly my natural element.
Sounds like you did a good job. I think that talking about death & dying on an age-appropriate level with kids when they're young makes it easier for the child to have a handle on when they get older. Pretending it didn't happen ("we sold your old dog to a farmer where he'll have more room to run around, he'll be happier this way") is pretty much a recipe for a lifetime of pain.
A little loss and grief is good for a kid, honestly. I was six when my great-uncle died, it was the year after Mr. Hooper died on Sesame Street, so my folks bought me a Little Golden Book called
I'll Miss You, Mr. Hooper and had a good long talk with me before the funeral. They took me to the funeral home for the wake and they even let me see him in the coffin and say goodbye. They tied it in nice with our religious beliefs and said that it's OK to be sad that he's gone but he's not sad and he's not in any pain. I came away feeling like I wished he were still around but it seemed like not a bad deal for him.
My point is, Ash, I think you're a good dad, and when your tyke is in his thirties, he'll look back to the way you handled stuff today when he needs a model for how to handle it with his own kid.
Author
Topic: Today I'm gonna... (Read 1349418 times)