explaining death to a 5 year old?

Question

I have a 5 year old brother that can't understand why our guinea pig died. We tried to explain that when things get sick they die but he still asks us why the guinea pig died. He also looks for the pig. The guinea pig died because it escaped out of its cage and we couldn't find it anywhere and a couple of weeks after it was gone we found it in the basement with maggots on it and it was dead. My brother will look down in the basement and ask where is the guinea pig. We tell him that he died and my brother can't understand why. So I guess my question is how do I get him to understand why the guinea pig died?

Answer 1

Your brother is still very young. His understanding of many things is still immature. At this age he is only able to conceptualize death up to a certain point. He "knows" the pet is gone but is unable to process the finality of it.

Look up The Developmental Stages of Grief

Here is an excerpt:

Pre-School Age: (Two and one half to five years)

Pre-schoolers do not understand death is permanent. They view it as reversible and temporary. Death may be confused with sleeping or the person merely being absent, with the belief the person will return. Since children are egocentric, death may be perceived as punishment for wrongdoing or caused because the child had previously wished the person dead. Sometimes, death is thought of as violent. Children also sometimes think they might catch the condition which caused the death. Some children think dead people live underground.

Pre-schoolers may exhibit these possible behaviors upon the death of a parent, peer, or other loved one:

May show little concern at times.
Bedwetting, thumbsucking, baby talk, fear of the dark.
Fear of separating from significant others.
May need to talk about death a lot. These repetitions make it real for the child, and he/she may say things, such as, "Ben can't use his dump truck anymore cause he's dead."


Adults can do the following to help a pre-school child cope with death:

Tell them what to expect regarding the funeral, parents/family grieving.
Explain to them how things might look and what might happen.
Encourage all adults in the school to use terms "dead/death" and not phrases of "passed away", "sleeping", "resting", or "taken from us".
Reassure the child regarding routines, activities, and schedules.
Keep explanations short, simple, and truthful. The explanations may need to be frequently repeated.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

tell him this:
I have a 5 year old brother that can't understand why our guinea pig died. We tried to explain that when things get sick they die but he still asks us why the guinea pig died. He also looks for the pig. The guinea pig died because it escaped out of its cage and we couldn't find it anywhere and a couple of weeks after it was gone we found it in the basement with maggots on it and it was dead. My brother will look down in the basement and ask where is the guinea pig. We tell him that he died and my brother can't understand why. So I guess my question is how do I get him to understand why the guinea pig died?

Answer 3

2 to 5: The child will miss the animal as a playmate, but not necessarily as a love object. They will see death as a temporary state – something like the way leaves fall off a tree in fall but grow back in the spring. As they perceive the trauma around them, however, they may regress in their behavior (e.g., thumb sucking).

5 to 9: Children begin to perceive death as permanent, but they may indulge in “magical thinking,” believing that death can be defied or bargained with. This is also the period when children recognize a correlation between what they think and what happens. For instance, a child may resent taking care of the pet and wish – however briefly – that the pet would die. If the pet then dies, the child is often consumed with guilt. Parents need to reassure children that they did not cause the pet’s death.

This site has ''do's and don'ts".

Answer 4

Ok try this, tell him that when the guinea pig got sick it had to find a different shelter because it knew it was going to die so when the pig feels its going to die then he goes down to the basement and god takes him to animal heaven.

Answer 5

Will you can say sometimes things happen to animals they get sick and they die. Nothing you can do about it they like the rest of us will have to go one day. But you can always tell him that you will always have good memories of your Quinea Pig though it has passed on. In the meantime, have you thought of getting another couple of Quinea Pigs?

Answer 6

well i had similar prob with four year old when puppy died we just explained that god put us here to do something good for others and when we are done doing that that we or our pets go home to him (god) we told her he was here to watch over the other puppies the mom had and when they were good to go chewy the puppy had to go home to god and became an angle and they would see him in heaven when they get there to but not for along long time

Answer 7

tell him that sometimes pets have to die. well not like that but try to make him understand that its dead and it wont come back.

Answer 8

If your Christian, tell him God took him home to a better place and one day he'll see him. (That's what my mom said when my grama died)

Answer 9

ignore him he shouldnt worry about death so early in life.