Can children see deceased relatives?

Question

My 3 year old daughter spent all day with my father the day before he died. My father passed away 2 days ago. His body was taken to the chapel of rest the same day. Today, I had to go to the chapel, to pay the deposit for his funeral, On the way there, I picked up my daughter and told her we had to go and pay a few bills. As we pulled into the village where the chapel is, my daughter pointed at the building and said "Do you know who is in there, My Garndad". There is no way she could have known this, it has never been mentioned in front of her and she would not have known what the building was. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck, and it has really got me thinking. I have asked her how she knows and she has just said cause she did. Does anybody have an explanation for this?

Answer 1

Some things just can't be explained, but the bond between your father and daughter must have been very strong.....I wouldn't look for reasons, just be comforted with the fact that he has made a connection ~ god bless

Answer 2

Well, it's very possible. Once had a conversation with my gran about all this life after death stuff which would have been perfectly normal, except she died the week before.

My neice used to look at a particular award plaque on the wall and laugh & giggle. We couldn't see anything, but she could and from other evidence we think it was my grandfather (mothers side) she saw.

Personally seen and experienced plenty of stuff to suggest that this is very possible, but don't worry, he'll no doubt move onwards once you've got things sorted out and settled. He's just simply sticking around to make sure that you're ok and your daughter not knowing that these things aren't technically possible will easily connect with him.

Btw, if you wanna know why - just ask him. Might not get an answer straight away or even in the way you expect, but you'll get one...

Answer 3

I have heard and experienced many different stories regarding the young and deceased relatives. I'm usually a sceptic concerning ghosts etc but i do think that there's something strange about the link between very young children and the dead.

My niece was an extremely young talker. She could have full blown arguments with you before the age of 2 (and sometimes win). When she was 1 she described a time before she met her mummy, when she was with 'grandad flowers' - her dead grandad she had never met. She said that she wanted him to come with her but he couldn't. He said she had to go on her own but he would always be with her. She said she went down a tunnel that hurt her and squeezed her, she had trouble breaking through the 'cardboard' at the end but then she saw mummy.

She doesn't remember this now, aged 10 but things like this make me think that perhaps the dead watch over the young or something like that. Either that or their minds are a lot more open than ours so they see more.

Answer 4

I am sorry about your father.

I can't explain how your little girl knew about her grandfather, but I do know that my father, as a child had a similar experience.

He was very close his grandmother. At four every afternoon he would have tea with his Nana, something that was personal just to them. He was about 2 1/2yrs when she passed away.

The day she died, the house was full of mourners. He was sitting on his mother's knee that afternoon not really understanding the sadness around him. About four o' clock he gave everyone in the room the shock of their lives. He sat up, pointed out into the hallway,and said: Nana! There's Nana!

He told me that he remembered, quite distinctly, his grandmother standing against the wall, just behind the coat-stand, smiling at him. He said he couldn't understand how she could've been standing like that as there was no space between the coat-stand and the wall. But she was there, as clear as day.

I don't know what we have as children that somehow gets lost or forgotten as we grow-up, but it's certainly something strange and wonderful.

xx

Answer 5

I remember about 27 of my 28 years of life. the first few years are kind of odd to remember because I didn't really think about things in a way that can be explained easily. I didn't know to pay attention to a lot of things. anyway it seems like I could see people that other people could not, but I didn't think about it at the time. it is difficult to be sure if that is the case or not.
I have seen babies act like someone is there when nobody (visible) is. on the other hand, there are many times when people seem to just know things and we don't know how we know it. so I guess my answer is, I don't know.

I don't like to say to much about such things but, yes the "dead" are real and are not dead. there bodies are the only part that dies. and a lot of people are going to wake up surprized at what it is like....

Answer 6

Yes, he has appeared to her and as a benevolent figure so she has no fear; apparitions often appear to children because children have not yet assumed all the adult prejudices many of us acquire.
Remember the Perfect Storm? One of the men (Murph) had a (then) five year old son and a week or so after they went down his little boy told his mother that his dad had appeared to him in his room and he then went on to describe the actual sinking and used terms and said things he could not possibly have known otherwise...
I also had two experiences when I was eight and another when I was ten, but neither were relatives.

Answer 7

I think so...I have a friend who's baby son passed away at 6 months of age. A couple of years later she gave birth to a daughter on the same day that her son was born. She was always told about her "big brother", but obviously never met him. However, from time to time she mentions that she saw Josh or that she'd talked to Josh.

PS So sorry about your loss.

Answer 8

I wouldn't feel obligated, but if I wanted to honor said relative I would do so. Such as my grandma, her name is Carol, and I want to name my daughter (when I have one) Carolina (Care-o-lee-na, NOT like the state) after her, especially if she died. I'll do it because I want to, not because I feel like I have to. I agree that having three people name their sons the same thing is irritating. I mean who wants to be a John with two cousins named John? One person doing it is enough. David is a wonderful name :)

Answer 9

All I can say about that is children are amazing! They do alot of things that we can't explain and they know alot of things we don't think they do. It's purely unexplainable, but as far as seeing or talking to ghosts...there is no such thing, my friend. The human mind is so complex that we can sometimes see and hear things (i.e. hallucinations) that no one else can with no explanation. It's just a natural phenomenon and your daughter, for some odd reason or another, just took a lucky guess.

Answer 10

I have a similar story. My grandson was about 2 when his great grandmother died. Her name was Maud. My grandson wasn't told because it was felt he was too young. He continued to visit his great granddad and never seemed to notice that Maud was not there. A year later great granddad Eric died and my daughter and son-in-law discussed how they would deal with telling my grandson. They hadn't got round to it, when my grandson was coming home from nursery with his daddy and said "Granddad Eric has died and he has gone to live with Granddad Maud. I can't go there because you have to be very ill but they are very happy there".

My son-in-law asked him where he had seen them and he said in his bedroom window. I later coached the story out of him and he said he saw them on his bedroom curtains. My daughter rang everyone who could have said something about it and no-one had told him. Makes you think, doesn't it?

I also have a seventeen month old granddaughter who constantly stares ahead of herself in the lounge and smiles. I have even seen her wave. Her mummy asked me if I had seen this because she has seen it as well.