Bilby
Executive Chef
Gee BT, I knew your cat was not well but I didn't realise just how bad things were. I am so sorry to read this thread and am eating thru the tissues as I do. Sorry also that I didn't log on sooner to read this. I hope you get to be with her when she goes. Heartfelt sympathies to you and yours.
The only time I have had to explain death to a toddler was when I was about 20 and my neighbour's kid was with me when I had to bury a dead dove that one of my cats had caught. I was just straight with him and he understood it, or at least seemed to. A couple of months later, he and his family relocated to the other side of the country and made it a camping trip by car. His parents couldn't understand why each time they dug a latrine he would ask about digging up doves!
What I have experienced and is possibly true for your son as well, is the thought of the absence is worse than the concept of death itself. So my limited advice to you would be to deal with it as two different subjects.
Hope she goes peacefully with you.
The only time I have had to explain death to a toddler was when I was about 20 and my neighbour's kid was with me when I had to bury a dead dove that one of my cats had caught. I was just straight with him and he understood it, or at least seemed to. A couple of months later, he and his family relocated to the other side of the country and made it a camping trip by car. His parents couldn't understand why each time they dug a latrine he would ask about digging up doves!
What I have experienced and is possibly true for your son as well, is the thought of the absence is worse than the concept of death itself. So my limited advice to you would be to deal with it as two different subjects.
Hope she goes peacefully with you.