When I was four, my maternal grandmother died, and my parents told me she wasn't there because she was travelling. My four-year-old brain knew better. My grandmother couldn't even get up to go to the bathroom by herself; she needed help every time she wanted to get up. How could she be travelling? I knew she was dead, but I didn't know my parents were lying to me; I thought they just didn't know, so I let them think that my grandmother was travelling. I felt sad that she was dead, and I couldn't talk about it with anyone. I was a little disappointed with my parents, too. How could they be so stupid? Didn't they know Grandma couldn't go anywhere alone?
So what prompted this memory from 47 years ago?
https://www.independentliving.co.uk/philip-anderson/being-mortal/
In his thought-provoking article, Philip Anderson writes about euphemisms and introduces ways to talk to children about death: "It is far better to talk openly about death with children, and there are several books which can be helpful."
No comments:
Post a Comment