My 3.5 year old son has become quite interested in death lately. It began with me talking about my grandparents in the past tense. He asked, "Did they die?" And then proceeded to barrage me with a series of other difficult questions such as, "How did they die?" "Will we die?" "What is death like?" "I don't want to die." Then a few days later, "Do people come back to life when they die?" "What happens when they die?" Etc. He also counted from my age up to 100 to determine how many years I have left before I die (one of my grandparents lived to be 100, so I think this is the magic number).
I've tried to answer him honestly but minimally, if that makes sense. We're not religious but I've told him about different beliefs (as in heaven, reincarnation, or simply that death is final and nothing happens). My question is: does anyone have any advice on how to navigate this with a young child? So far, he's only gotten a little upset about it all. I should also mention that we have a 14-year-old dog who may meet her end soon (*sniff*). I suppose I want to prepare him for this as best as I can. He's a very sensitive and empathetic boy.
