Alex

Alex is my son. Currently he is four years old. He asked me about his sister today. How do you explain death to a child?
Alex knows that people die. He knows that my mother died in a car accident "cuz she wasn't wearing her seat belt" he knows that his sister died. He knows she was sick. He knows she was in the hospital. Sometimes he asks why the doctors didn't make her better. Why we didn't give her medicine. We give him medicine when he's sick, didn't we want her to get better? I'm at a loss for words to explain that there are some types of sick that medicine can't fix. I tried once and he spent some time being afraid that he would get sick and the doctors wouldn't be able to help. I don't want my child to live in fear like that.
Children that young should live in a world where everything is good and boo boos are fixed by mommy's kiss. But he's smart and there was no way I was getting out of explaining the baby sister that came and went so quickly.
Life is hard, but it shouldn't be when you're four years old. Alex shouldn't worry about things like getting to sick to get better anymore. He should think about staying up late and taking his bike to the park. He should want to know which toys he can take outside to play. He should try to postpone nap time as long as possible. He shouldn't be talking about babies dying and hospitals. He's such a smart child and he asks such simple, complicated questions. Questions that don't always have an answer that I can put into words a child can understand, questions that I don't always want to answer.