Đạo Talks About Death

Lately Đạo has been talking about death. I don’t know where or how he picked up on the subject, but I am sure that he doesn’t quite understand the concept yet.

Right before bedtime tonight, he came over and said to me, “I love you, daddy. I don’t want you to die.” I asked him why he thinks that way, but he didn’t answer my question.

About a week or so ago, I overheard a conversation between him and his brother. Somehow Đán talked about ông ngoại (grandpa) and Đạo said that “ông ngoại is not coming back.” He went on, “He is gone forever.”

A couple weeks ago, he showed me a calendar, which has a picture of H and his mom, and said, “Daddy, when H’s mom dies, he can look at this picture and he will remember his mom.” I tried to explain to him that it was not an appropriate thing to say, but he didn’t quite get it.

I asked my wife if he had mentioned to her anything about death and she said that he asked her, “Mommy, what will happen to me when you die?” I am not sure what she told him.

He seems to be curious about this subject. I am not quite sure how to explain to him the concept of death. Is he ready to learn about the truth of death?