Explaining Death to Children

I was on the phone with my sister the other day and she told me that her daughters cat had passed away suddenly. We were discussing the difficulty involved in explaining death to a child. Children have to deal with this many times when they are growing up. They lose pets, friends, and relatives to the dark angel known as death, and we as adults are at a loss for words to comfort them. This is one of the times that it is hard to know just what to say. She said that my niece had been taking it well and I believe that this is her first real dealing with the subject. When my own children were growing up; I would talk to them about passing from one life to another, like the caterpillar and the butterfly. That discussion worked well for them when they were younger. They grew up however and we had to discuss things like the belief in an after life for all beings great and small. As we all know there are many beliefs on this subject and each family has to teach their children in the way that they believe. As adults we believe the way we want when it comes to death, but I believe that children should be taught in life after death and given this hope. All faiths and beliefs practice that there is an after life and it begins when we die. Of course atheist don't believe this, but hell, they don't believe in anything. How does this person talk to their child about death? I have often wondered about this. Many times in my lack for discussion and explanation, I would turn to the Holy Bible and make an attempt to explain it in Christian terms of Heaven and Hell. This is often difficult for a young child to understand, but it works well when they become teenagers; you can often get a little morals and values talk into them as well. If it is a relative that they are dealing with, it is good idea to go to a clergyman or pastor for counseling in this matter. It is not an easy subject to discuss with anyone young or old and each person seems to handle it differently, but it is especially hard for a child. I believe that every child should be taught that there is hope out there beyond the grave; this would be a sad, long, hard, journey if we did not have that hope. I believe that we do have that hope...