Funeral First

As parents we are faced with so many decisions.  Should we do this with our kids or that?  Should we let them experience a certain event or not?  What is the right thing to do? 

We were faced with this when our friend passed away.  Were we going to take the girls to her funeral?  When is the right time to expose them to this?  How much is too much?  So many questions that you are never taught in childbirth classes.  We have always been open and honest with our girls about life and death and we remained so with this situation. 

Through some discussion we decided that it was the right time for the girls to experience a funeral.  (The husband also helped make the decision because he said “now you are bringing the girl, right"?)  We did clarify if it was going to be an open or closed casket which was also a deciding factor (in this case it was closed). 

Thankfully we had a week to prepare the girls and had many opportunities for discussions where they asked tons of great questions.  We walked them through everything that would happen that day and what different things meant.  We also explained what things meant to our family and our relationship with Jesus Christ. 

The girls ended up doing great and really learned a lot going through this process.  They each took in what they could for their age and mental ability.  We were able to share and teach them so much, it’s just sad that it was due to the loss of our friend.  I think that ML and I made the right decision to involve them and that it brought the girls closer to us and a greater understanding of love and life.