Should you talk to young children about dying?

Young children are quite rightly inquisitive about things that they do not understand as they look to learn about the world that they live in. However, how do you go about discussing serious issues? How do you talk to young children about dying? With this in mind, Laura Richardson now looks to consider where you should talk to your young children about dying today . . .

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When it comes to discussing sensitive issues with our young children, it can be difficult to know how to make sure that the discussion is appropriately geared to their maturity, and their current understanding of the world.

With news coverage containing detailed accounts of many tragic events, crimes and ‘images viewers may find distressing’, it can be tempting to try and shield our children from such reporting. However, at some point, our children will usually ask us questions which tackle sensitive issues such as dying. For example, this very week my son came home from his school with a topic book about the death rituals of the Egyptians which led to a very interesting conversation in the playground!

There is clearly a wide range of opinion on how we as parents should tackle conversations concerning such emotive matters as death and dying. Ultimately, however, each parent must decide what is in the best interests of their own child. Some parents are keen to be unreservedly honest about the realities of dying. Other parents are keen to restrict their child’s knowledge and deflect questions which they consider to be best discussed when their children are older, or as and when it will affect their life such as following the death of a loved one.

Although we at Andrew Douglas Wills and Legal Services are experienced in discussing sensitive and potentially distressing subject matters with our clients, we know that each of our clients have differing needs regarding the treatment of such a subject matter. Our service is therefore tailored to be bespoke to each individual or family that we work with. Similarly when it comes to our clients discussing topics such as death or dying, or end of life plans with their children, we know that there is no “right way” to broach these issues.

There are many books designed to help parents to discuss the loss of a loved one with their young children. There are also many articles readily available online with differing approaches and suggestions dependent upon many factors including religious or cultural beliefs. Whether you decide to discuss difficult issues such as death or dying with your children or not is an extremely personal decision that only you as a parent or family can decide upon.

What you can always be certain of, however, is that as a client of Andrew Douglas Wills and Legal Services, you will benefit from the years of experience that we have in specialising in legal services associated with death and dying. We pride ourselves in offering a professional, yet personal service, designed to help our clients to comfortably discuss their end of life plans in a dignified manner.

Please feel free to contact Andrew Douglas Wills and Legal Services today via www.andrewdouglaswills.co.uk to find out more about how we can help you with your effective estate planning in Essex and dealing with issues like talking to young children about dying.

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