How to Explain Death to a Child

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
All men fear death, (Hebrews 2:15) so your job as a parent is to show your child a non-scary way of looking at death, especially if someone in your family dies and explaining it becomes an issue.
Find a toy truck and a toy automobile to demonstrate. If you have a light souce you can set up so much the better.
Here is what you can say.
“Do you remember how when we go on a road trip we have to pass big trucks that are going slower than we are? Do you remember when we passed on the side away from the sun that a giant shadow fell on our car? But we did not fear because we could see the road ahead. Very soon we were back in the sunlight and the shadow was gone.
Well that is what death is like. It is only a shadow. And passing from here to there is simple and uncomplicated. God is on the other side waiting for us.
Of course we don’t want you going there any day soon. That is also God’s choice.”
That is why we live in faith, and with faith. If we have accepted Jesus and know He is our savior. He is waiting on the other side.truck shadow
This illustration comes from Dr Donald Grey Barnhouse (d.1960)
He said, “Children, would you rather be run over by a truck, or by its shadow?” The children said, “Well, of course Dad, we’d much rather be run over by the shadow! That can’t hurt us at all.” Dr. Barnhouse said, “Did you know that two thousand years ago the truck of death ran over the Lord Jesus in order that only its shadow might run over us?”
quoted from Lou Nicholes Missionary/Author.

Checklist Icon

If you enjoy our articles here, please join the discussion by subscribing, and following us on Twitter @ImmaculateAssum and at Immaculate Assumptions on Facebook. Additional background material on the author and her writings can be found at AMAZON where you may purchase her e-book, Immaculate Assumptions: All You Heard about the Bible that Isn’t True.

#parenting #howtodescribedeath

One Response

  1. 3 years ago I gave this message to a group of senior citizens as they face death within only a few short years, and since God has stated that men do fear death, a child’s story like this is appropriate. After I finished, one woman protested. We here are not afraid of death, she said. I thought that strange since all the residents had moved in within a few short months. One could hardly know the opinion of everyone.
    People who have doubts, fears, unrevealed sin, guilt and unresolved questions will frequently deny what you have said. It’s a red flag telling you that you were on point.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related articles

You may also be interested in

Cookie policy
We use our own and third party cookies to allow us to understand how the site is used and to support our marketing campaigns.