Hard Conversations: Death · Kingdom University

Hard Conversations: Death

Nobody wants to be the parent who sat their child down and explained that people die.

It feels like stealing something. Like the moment you say it you've taken their innocence and you can never give it back.

So most parents wait.

They change the subject. They say grandma "went to sleep." They say the dog "went to a farm." They deflect, delay, and distract hoping the question goes away on its own.

But here is what happens when we never talk about death:

Our children experience it for the first time without any framework. Without language. Without God in the conversation. In the middle of a crisis when they are already devastated they have to figure out what death means all by themselves.

And what they figure out on their own is almost never accurate. Almost never peaceful. And almost never anchored in faith.

Here is the truth

Talking about death does not traumatize your child. Being unprepared for it does.

A child who has been taught what death is in a calm, age-appropriate, God-centered way is a child who has something to hold onto when it actually happens.

They know where believers go. They know it is not the end. They know they can grieve AND still have hope.

That is a gift. And it starts with a conversation you have before you need to.

Did anyone ever talk to you about death growing up? How did that or the absence of it shape how you've handled it with your own children? Drop it below.

🌙 Tonight — Im am giving you the actual words to use. What do you say when your child asks "What happens when you die?" We're breaking it down by age.

14 comments

Hard Conversations: Death