Tonight, I was reading the Puss in Boots bedtime story to Ayden. The story begins with the Old Miller dying.
Ayden asked me if people die in real life. I was not ready for this conversation, but I also didn’t want to lie. I said yes and hoped we could move on quickly.
Ayden’s eyes turned teary. In a crying voice, he asked, “Why?”
“It’s just the way it is,” I said.
I watched him as he processed this new information about life. He has seen dead worms and read stories with death in them, but never connected that with people.
Eyes still watery, voice slightly shaky, he asked again, “Why do people die?”
I really didn’t know how to respond. I winged it, badly.
He asked, “Do they fix you back to normal?”
One last try to be stoic, and I explained that death is a normal part of life. There was nothing to be fixed.
“What if you want to play?” he asked with a lot of concern in his voice.
Religion to the rescue. I tell him about heaven and how there are all the toys there. He is feeling better; he even smiles when I tell him about all the monster trucks in heaven. We spend a lot of time discussing heaven and how much fun it is. How we live and play there forever.
“Can you bring toys back home?” he asked.