Even if they don't recognize its violence, children come to understand the tragedy of death surprisingly early in their lives. By the age of four or … - David A. Sinclair

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Even if they don't recognize its violence, children come to understand the tragedy of death surprisingly early in their lives. By the age of four or five, they know that death occurs and is irreversible.2 It is a shocking thought for them, a nightmare that is real. A "GOOD, LONG LIFE." My grandmother "Vera" sheltered Jews in World War II, lived in primitive New Guinea, and was removed from Bondi Beach for wearing a bikini. The end of her life was hard to watch. "This is just the way it goes," she said. But the person she truly was had been dead many years at that point. At first, because it's calming, most children prefer to think that there are certain groups of people who are protected from death: parents, teachers, and themselves. Between 5 and 7, however, all children come to understand the universality of death. Every family member will die. Every pet. Every plant. Everything they love. Themselves, too.