In the car, the 5 year old sat beside me …
5 year old – A caterpillar turns into a cocoon, thrn a butterfly. What does it turn into after that?
Me - It stays a butterfly, until it dies
5 year old aghast – But butterflies don’t die!
Me - They do eventually
5 year old thoughtfully - E said that both her Grandmas are going to die soon (E is the 5 year old’s friend, she is also 5)
Me – Why did she say that?
5 year old – Because they are very very very old
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After speaking to the husband about the Granny death talk he said he was witness to E telling the 5 year old about her Grandma’s fate. Our 5 year old apparently retorted with “Yes, my Dad died but he came back to life”.

































16 Comments on "The Grim Reaper is 5 years old and lives in the village"
I’ve had the following:
Me – Next year, blablabla
Son – Won’t you be dead then?
Also
Friend – Dead cats go in the ground.
Son – So do people. In a box.
Friend & Son – Giggle, giggle.
Children are freaks sometimes.
Not looking forward to these conversations with the munchkin, she’s quite a sensative soul and will propably have me in tears just looking at her “sad” face.
Nice comeback from the 5yr old
Have you read the Miffy book Dear Grandma? It’s really sad, only you get no warning and leads to lots of conversations about death just before bedtime. I don’t recommend it.
Joel has a book about Octopuses and at the end the Octopus gives birth to lots of babies and then dies, because Octopuses do that you see. They give up their life for their babies, literally. This is how Joel has come to learn about death. I’ve tagged you over at mine. When is the Go Ape review coming?
What’s the betting that the Grandmas aren’t actually that old at all? Except to a 5 year old, of course.
I know them both, neither of them are very very very old!
I always remember listening with horror when one of my kids asked why we shouldn’t just kill off old people when they got too old to do anything.
Was this in public in a loud voice? … probably in a Post Office queue on pension day?!
Isnt it amazing how matter a fact children are about things we often find difficult to talk about…wish we were more like them sometimes.
When Michael Jackson died my daughter (5 at the time) said something simiar – that her friend’s Dad often died but then he woke up then died again!
They say that children speak the truth but that’s probably because they haven’t defined the phrase ‘awkward conversation’ just yet lol.
Wait till he tells you it’s your turn next because you are so old, as my five-year-old recently said to me. No birthday present for him this year methinks.
Also have added a meme tag on my blog for you, just in case you were looking for things to do with your time!
Rosemary’s comfortableness with death disturbs me a bit, though it’s probably very healthy. One conversation on the way up to playgroup:
R: Your daddy’s dead, isn’t he?
Me: Yes, he is.
R: You can’t eat when you’re dead, can you?
Me: No, I don’t think you can.
R: Look, there’s a dead worm. It can’t eat, then?
Me: No, probably not.
R: I don’t think I’d like to be dead.
Me: OK.
They seem so matter-of-fact about death. That must be a good thing?!
Strike one for the 5 year old. Nothing like a good fib for a bit of one-upmanship. Sounds almost Pythonesque: ‘I’m not dead! I feel better!…’
Well she is my daughter after all ….