30/08/2025
Do you talk about death and dying with your family?
Is it a taboo subject or something you have just not considered?
Over the last five years, we have lost six friends and family members. I remember my daughter’s end of Year 4 school report mentioning how all the staff who had worked with her, that year, had been amazed at how she had coped with loosing her Grandad and Uncle, within two months of each other.
Last weekend, she was talking to me about how she has a list of important people and she never knows who is going to be next!
My heart broke, I want to protect her from all this, wrap her up in cotton wool, say things like, ‘only the very sick or very old die’.
She knows that’s not always true!
So where to go now? I have made a little plan. We are going to openly talk about death, bring it out of the dark and scary place where it likes to hide, and talk about it. Openly. Honestly.
The truth is, we are all going to die.
My daughter and myself are going to create a family book of memories, yes, what some of us may have called a photo album in times past! We have already started to print out photos, ready to stick in. An easy, and important win.
What do you do as a family?
