Little-Friend-at-School looks at R, then at me and says
“Is that your mother?”
R looks around, sees me - "uh-huh, yep".
She turns and says to me “Did your baby die?”
“Yes he did.”
“Oh. That’s bad.”
“Yes its very sad.”
pause
“Did you know his heart just stopped?”
“No, I went into the hospital and they told me his heart had stopped”
“Just after he was born?”
“No, just before he was born”
“And then did he just go back into…(she curls her hands up)” She seemed lost and insinuating that she thought he just 'evaporated' in a sense, or turned back into a 'seed'...
I interrupted her to say
“No he was born, and then we buried him in the cemetery.”
Little-Next-Door-Neighbour (also in R's class) says “So if your baby didn’t die, R would have had a little brother!”
I say “yes, he has a little brother”
Little-Friend-at-School corrects her “no he'd have a big brother”
I laugh “no, R would be the big brother!”
And that was that.
They said goodbye cheerily to each other and skipped off home.
I love how kids just take it all in their stride.
They aren't afraid to ask about death.
They aren't afraid to upset you.
They are just curious little creatures.
Personally, I love to chat with R's little inquisitive girlfriends.
4 comments:
Such sweet, pure honesty.
I think that's the best part of kids at that age. They process things so differently, and have no hidden agendas. It's refreshing to think of things that way.
I wish adults would be so brave as to talk like children. There is just so much fear. I hate that. My dead son should not be feared...
Kids do not self censor and they rarely ask a question because they are being nosey. They only want the information and to understand what it means to them in their universe.
I wish grown ups had the same common sense.
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