Death education is life education. "Death" should not become a "taboo" in children's education.

Earthquakes, car accidents, deaths from illness, hypothermia, and dozens of lives were lost due to accidents in just a few days.

Regarding this, there is resentment, regret, doubt, and longing...

Natural and man-made disasters, birth, old age, illness, and death. These serious topics seem to be getting closer and closer to our lives.

But in China, we are taboo about death, and discussions about death are always invisible. We don’t talk about the deaths of our loved ones, and we don’t talk about our own. Whether culturally or institutionally, death has become an "unlucky" topic.

What we have been taught since childhood is that death is black, painful, loss, sad, and taboo.

"Death" has become a "taboo" among adults, let alone "death education" for children.

Excessive beautification and vague concept. This is a common problem that many parents have when explaining "death" to their children.

But this is wrong. The lack of awareness of death does not keep children away from death, but may push them towards death.

To despise death is to despise the source of life

"Mom, what happened to him?"

- "He just fell asleep."

"Why haven't I seen him for a long time? Where has he gone?"

——"He has traveled far and gone to a beautiful place."

David Fassler, Ph.D., University of Vermont School of Medicine, said, In fact, statements such as "Ta fell asleep" and "We have lost Ta forever" will confuse preschool children and even dare not sleep alone at night (for fear of themselves) Also not awake).

We always believe that children are too young and should not accept things that are too "unlucky". Or maybe they feel that "death" is too far away and children don't need to understand it yet.

However, death is never bad luck, and death is not far away from us.

Despising one's own life

There was once a 13-year-old girl who drank half a bottle of pesticide because of an argument with her father.

According to surveys, most of the reasons for children to have suicidal thoughts are trivial things in life such as having their mobile phones confiscated, not being allowed to stay in bed, failing elementary school exams, etc.

In addition to psychological factors, parents’ excessive beautification of death in front of their children is also one of the main reasons why this phenomenon occurs.

Contempt the lives of others

Because parents often blur the concept of "death" intentionally or unintentionally, children naturally have no concept of life.

Nowadays, the probability of juvenile crime is increasing year by year. Injuring or even killing people is nothing more than a trivial matter in the eyes of children.

In the end, children can realize the value of life only when they are punished by society or even the law. I believe this is something that many parents do not want to see.

Avoiding talking about "death" is not protecting children

1

Talk about family members and let children understand "life and death"

< p> To guide children to understand that death is a natural phenomenon of life, you can start by sharing family stories together.

When your family gets together and chats, you can find yellowed photos, look through them, and tell your children about your deceased family members. Reminisce about their past with your children, and don’t hide the fact that they have passed away.

At the same time, it can also let children know that the death of a loved one is something we cannot change. Even if we can't see each other again, we still have to live happily.

2

Keeping pets allows children to experience "life and death"

Many babies like to keep pets. Pets have a short lifespan and can easily become the first exposure to death for children. After an experience, parents may wish to make good use of the opportunity to provide life education.

The death of a pet often triggers children's questions about death. Where did the dog go? What is heaven? Can I go with it? More and more studies point out that if children are encouraged to ask questions related to death, If children are allowed to express their emotions and are often cared for, they will be able to face the death of a loved one more calmly.

When the child asks you about "death" again, I hope you can answer the child's question calmly and tell the child:

After a person passes away, there will be no death in our lifetime. We will never see him again, but our love for him will last forever. Therefore, we must cherish the time we have with our loved ones now, every second.