• Your child needs your help to understand death. So it's best to explain what has happened as simply and truthfully as you can. For example, 'I have some sad news. Your Uncle Badu died this morning'.
Using the word 'death' can avoid problems too. If you say that someone 'passed away', 'left' or has 'gone to sleep', your child might be confused or frightened. For example, a child who is told that "an Uncle" has gone to sleep forever, might be affraid of sleeping because he is afraid he will never wake up.
If you feel very uncomfortable talking About death, you might need to practise with another adult first. You could go through what you will say and how you will answer your child's questions because children are very curious and so expect more questions, get prepared. Or you might like to write down a few notes as reminders.
It can also be helpful to think About what you will say if you don't know the answer to your child's question. It's OK to say something like, " don't know but I will try to find out". And Remember to sorts for the answer and give them the correct feedback as expected.
Grieving is a process that can take weeks, months, and years. Sometimes as a child matures, they will reprocess the death based on their new understanding and life experiences. Share your feelings and grief history with your child. A child will take comfort in knowing they are not alone in how they feel and they will look to the adults for role models in how to deal with grief.