Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/docia-shares-a-story-about-death/5010816/
How does one respond to Jason when his hamster is killed by the family cat; to Sarah who finds her goldfish floating in the fishbowl; to Brett who wants to know if dead people talk to each other; to Chris who, told that his best friend died and had gone to heaven, wants to know if his friend will come back for the funeral; to Peter who brings a dead bird to school.Eveline Omwake, Peter's teacher, shares what she said and did:
Peter, age four, arrived at the center bearing a box containing a beautiful but very dead cardinal. His mother later reported that while waiting for his carpool he had seen the bird fly against the window and drop to the ground. Handing the box to me, he announced: "My mother said you would tell me what 'dead' is."
Leaving the group of variously curious and anxious children to the other teacher, I took Peter to the play yard and suggested he watch the bird. I would be back to study it with him. His observation on my return was: "It doesn't pee anymore." We agreed that it didn't seem to do anything anymore and ...