Despite your age, the passing of a pet can be a difficult process. In many cases the death of a pet means the death of a family member, a protector, a friend. And with such an abstract topic like death, explaining it to a child may seem like a tricky ordeal. A parent may feel caught in the middle between being brutally truthful and sympathetically vague.
The Humane Society of Perry’s Abby Benifiel gave Raccoon Valley Radio some suggested talking points to go through when discussing the death of a pet with a child. She reminds everyone that children are realists. If you simply tell a child that their pet ran away or went to sleep, avoiding the real issue, you are delaying the inevitable and causing more obscurity than good.
“Why lie about it? Because it’s only going to cause confusion in the child. If the pet really was a member of the family, members of the family don’t run away. And if the dog or the cat did run away, why aren’t we out looking for it?” says, Benifiel.
Benifiel also suggests to remember the good times they had with their pet.
“So long as they loved the animal, helped it and had a happy life, that they did the best they could to make that animal happy in the time it had with them. Try to remind the child, that the happy times are what the dog will always remember as well.”
It’s not recommended that a parent tries to replace the lost pet with another one. Rather, explain that any new pets are there to make new memories, not substitute old ones. And perhaps the best way to mend the broken spirit is with time and patience.