Anyone else have a hard time telling your kids crocodile Steve is gone?

Question

I know it sounds dumb, but geez, my 2 have basicaly grew up with this guy on tv since they were real young. Our first thought was to not tell them, but knew it would be all over school. I heard someone on tv say it's basicaly like telling kids mickey mouse died.Kinda tough

Handled it just fine there, uhh, ms reality

Answer 1

My twins are 11 years old, and they took it pretty hard. Heck, so did I! They want to send his family a card, which is a great idea.
I suppose it depends on the age of the child, but I guess it is a good lesson in some ways for them to deal with it.
Here's the address in case your kids want to do the same. I think it is a nice thing to do and might help them find closure.

Terry Irwin
c/o
AUSTRALIA ZOO
GLASS HOUSE MOUNTAINS TOURIST DRIVE
BEERWAH, QUEENSLAND 4519
AUSTRALIA

Answer 2

My kids were fine. Little sad, but nothing too excessive. My nephew though OMG! He is only 5 he wakes up talking about animals, talks all day about animals, talks about animals before bed! He wants to be a crocodile hunter when he grows up. We even had a birthday cake on the crocodile hunters birthday. When his mom told him that he died, he broke down. He could not be consoled. He really was a family member of sorts to my nephew. We are trying to be as supportive to him as possible right now. Even though he didn't know him, he loved him in a way. This is his first big loss, and he is taking it sooo... hard. We told him that Steve would want him to know it wasn't the animals fault, and he died doing what he loved.

Answer 3

Yes, the three of them are heartbroken. He was a like a super hero, always fooling around with very impresive and dangerous animals. They were horrified to know that a sting ray had killed hi, since they enjoy petting and feeding the sting rays at Sea World and the local Nature Center!

I guess it serves also as a lesson not to be overconfident when dealing with dangerous animals (pets or insects or whatever). Still we all are very very sorry this happened.

Answer 4

Think about what and how Steve's wife Terri will have to tell their children. Just use age appropriate language but not in a way to scare the children so they think they are going to die. I am a 40 something person close his age and have a hard time believing he is gone. I loved watching his shows, documenting his marriage to Terri and the birth of the children. He was so entertaining and I will miss him. Sounds crazy missing someone I never knew.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Irwin

Answer 5

I'm right there with ya... I have three (of age to know him) and I just called them all in the living room and told them what happened... When my 5 yr old got tears in his eyes, so did I... Steve was a great guy and they loved him... They understand he's gone but are a little comforted that they still get to see his shows. What a tragedy!

Answer 6

You are right about the school thing. I did not think about that. I thought that I would just not bring it up to them. It is a hard thing to deal with. So many children enjoyed watching him, and learned so much from him as well.

Answer 7

My children accepted it with alot more ease than I did, at least that's how I saw it. I found it difficult to accept. Steve was an great person.

Answer 8

My son saw it on the news yesterday and then his teacher talked about it in school today.

Steve Irwin was an awesome man!!

Answer 9

Yes it was very hard. Death being NATURAL doesn't make it any more easy for someone to deal with.

Answer 10

I let my kids watch it on TV... they seemed ok.. don't think they really understand death... I was very sad to hear about it.