” Where is Pitu, Mommy ? ” …. Pitu was very old and sick, he was also very tired and went to take a very, very long nap, u know like a cat nap …, I explained to my son.
Except this time it’s a forever nap!
So today we will say goodbye to him and bury him with rose petals and then we will plant flowers on top of him so we will always see him everyday when we walk by Milans window . He will never be forgotten but instead we will now enjoy him in the form of flowers…
Zalen, ” Mommy, are the flowers going to meow ?” How sweet and innocent.
My son is five and my daughter is two and half. They both understood that our beloved cat was no longer physically around and that our family had just lost a very dear and important member.
It was interesting to watch the difference in their reactions due to their emotional maturity level : my son was very emotional when saying goodbye , while my daughter was more interested in repeating what I was trying to explain.
Up until losing our cat, my kids only experience of loss was losing a toy! This has been a rather big life lesson and although I’m no expert on how to handle death with kids, I do believe we explained it in its simplest form…. ” we are returning Pitu back to the earth ”