Saludos queridas madres y padres de esta comunidad, el día de hoy me uno al Weekly Challenge, para contarle como he hablado de la muerte con mi hijo Rafael.
Greetings dear mothers and fathers of this community, today I join the Weekly Challenge, to tell you how I have talked about death with my son Rafael.
I am very respectful of each other's beliefs, so much so that in my house my mother is a Catholic Christian, while I decided to completely dissociate myself from religion many years ago, but I maintain good relationships with people who respect my way of seeing the world, for my part I also respect my son and I don't let anyone dare scare him with scary things, what does this mean, I try to educate my son by being as honest as possible, when he asks me a question about the facts of life I answer in a simple way, I do not overwhelm him with unnecessary details nor do I try to lie to him at any time, I do not pressure him and I try to make conversations happen naturally, that does not mean that I have the correct formula to speak of death or any other difficult topic with children, this just means that the education of a child will always depend on the beliefs and values in his family, my method has worked for us.
In the specific case of death, my son has asked his questions at an early age, this is because my father, that is, his grandfather died two years before my son was born, we have always had my father present in my house, either remembering him when talking about him or seeing old photos on cell phones, besides, my mom and I have sublimated t-shirts with my dad's portrait so when my son was old enough to ask, he knew that he was his grandfather and that had died, also my son likes to go to the cemetery to visit my father's grave, he remembers to bring flowers, helps clean the grave and even helps my mother light a candle, the only one who prays is my mother but Rafael he sees it very naturally, however from time to time he tells me that he misses his grandfather, he never met him but still he tells me that he misses him, this is his way of expressing that he would like to have a grandfather, I understand this perfectly since on television children have grandparents who When they play with them, then my son has always wanted his grandfather to be alive, but he understands that there is no going back after death.
Thanks to the fact that my son has gone to the cemetery he understands that people have been buried when they die, I have not told him anything about the beliefs of hell or heaven, he knows that when people reach old age they die, in fact the every once in a while since he learned to add he calculates how old his grandmother will be @yole when he is an adult or of a certain age and when he tells me that his grandmother will not be there I explain that if his grandmother does not get sick or does not suffer from a accident you can still live for many years.
Also, since my son started watching animated series or movies with me, I have been there to explain to him when questions arise, he understands the concept of a funeral, he knows that relatives say goodbye to their loved ones before the burial, he also understands that not only old people die but also people of any age can die if an illness or an unfortunate event occurs, a few days ago while we were walking to school he told me "Mommy I want everyone to be forever", I asked him what he meant by that , to which he replied that he wanted no one to ever die, I felt moved by his wish, he is a child with incredible sensitivity and nobility, I felt happy that he wished eternal life for everyone, however I told him that he did not have to fear, that death is a process of life, that everything that is born has to die one day and that he should not worry about it, that the important thing was to enjoy and be happy at every moment, he told me that he knew it couldn't last forever but that he thought it would be good, this is something that even adults think so it doesn't seem bad that he came to that reasoning.
My son is barely 7 years old and so far I feel that he has handled death well, he hardly remembers when his first cat died, because Rafael was about 3 years old, but he has seen him in photos by his side, he He knows that our cat is buried in the yard, he knows that animals don't last as long as humans and that is why they have to be taken good care of, in general I believe that my son is well prepared to face any loss of a loved one, it is I mean, I know my son will be sad, but at the same time at his young age he understands that death sometimes just happens but that we can still remember the deceased with love.
Espero les haya gustado. Les invito a leer mis próximas publicaciones y siempre estaré dispuesta a responder sus preguntas y comentarios, también pueden seguirme y contactarme en cualquiera de mis redes sociales. ¡Muchas gracias!
I hope you liked it. I invite you to read my next publications and I will always be willing to answer your questions and comments, you can also follow me and contact me on any of my social networks. Thank you!