The following question was recently posted:
 
>  How do I explain to a 6 year old what "dead"
> is?  She just doesn't realize the seriousness of the situation.
 
We keep praying mantises as pets.  My boys have seen many of them hatch
and many of them die.  They have seen them eat (crickets and flies) and
get eaten.  They understand the cycle of life.  May I suggest you get a
little, short lived pet?  Goldfish, insects, hermit crabs, etc. can
teach great lessons.
 
I echo the suggestion of keeping animals and pets around to teach the
cycle of life to kids.  My 4 year old is really pretty saavy on the
subject of death.  Her daycare provider had some pets (dogs and cats) who
died over the past few years and that really brought the concept of "gone
forever" home to her.  My father-in-law died suddenly last year and Amanda
reminded us that Pop-pop was in heaven with her sitter's pets.  She asked
us why we had flowers at the funeral for Pop-pop since he was dead and
couldn't enjoy them -- Good Question!  Movies have also helped us explain
death, especially The Lion King.  A lion is born, another lion dies and
the young lion grows up and has a family of his own.  That's it in a nut
shell, isn't it?
 
My 3 year old is the one with food allergies (wheat and milk/casein) and I
am grateful his reactions are not life threatening.  My heart goes out to
you.  I find I do alot of cooking for events that Paul will be attending
to ensure he will have foods he can eat.  For example, I baked the cake
for a birthday party this afternoon (the mom of the birthday kids is doing
the decorating with frostings that we selected for her).  The other day I
made doughnuts (what did we do with that old deep fryer?) for his class so
no one would bring in Dunkin' Munchkins and tempt him.  I know there will
come a time when I can't protect him like this, but as long as I can, I
will keep trying.
 
Cathy in CT