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Explaining the concept of death to a 3 yr old; How to do it...
Topic Started: Jun 3 2007, 02:31 AM (428 Views)
rikal
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Rebbetzin
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I would tell him that Zeide will be and will be proud but we just can't see him because he is there next to HaShem.
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Jo :-)
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queen
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Well, I have been talking to DS about dad, and he has obviously been doing some thinking over the last few days.
Yesterday without any prompting and out of nowhere, he told me and DH that 'Hashem killed grandpa' which is certainly an interesting interpretation.
His reasoning is that he died - therefore someone must have killed him, and it must have been Hashem... :huh: :huh
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buba-luba
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aishes chayil
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Well, he isn't completely wrong, is he?

My main 2 problems with the death issues are:
- not to make Hashem sound evil
- not to make it sound "too" nice that someone's going to be with Hashem so he doesn't ask why don't we all go now?!
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Jo :-)
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queen
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buba-luba
Jun 11 2007, 09:54 AM
Well, he isn't completely wrong, is he?

My main 2 problems with the death issues are:
- not to make Hashem sound evil
- not to make it sound "too" nice that someone's going to be with Hashem so he doesn't ask why don't we all go now?!

Yeah - it is proving to be a difficult balance.....'killing' does have an evil/negative connotation.
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sauls_mom
Bala Buste
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how did u respond?
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buba-luba
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aishes chayil
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I don't think I've found a definite answer yet...
When people are old, it makes it easier to explain if you say they've had a long and nice life and now they're very tired and that's why Hashem called them. Thank God we haven't had to deal with other cases...(there was someone sick but he was old by Adin's standards). Also I think Adin doesn't know how to use the word "kill' yet (he'll walk around making gun noises and saying "Let's kill him" but when I ask him what he means he says "make a loud noise in his ear"...)

Jo, what did you say?
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Jo :-)
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queen
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We said that he was right in the sense that Hashem had decided that it was time for Grandpa to come to Him and that He chooses when people/animals die.
Killing is what people/animals do to each other and that it is generally not a good thing, and that Hashem is good, and loves us and does what is best for us.
I was surprised that he used the word 'kill' as I didn't think he really understood what it meant. He obviously associates killing with death.
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rikal
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Rebbetzin
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You would be surprised what kids remember. Remember you kill bugs and when some people get angry they say they are going to kill somebody. They get the idea.
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buba-luba
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aishes chayil
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Actually Adin was trying to catch a fly the other day and smashed it instead, and he was holding it and saying "I caught it! It's sleeping". That's the first time I remember telling him it's dead...
It's crazy how growing kids make you think about so many things you've always taken for granted.
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