You Are Going To Die

Death is all around us.

Death is obvious.

Death is so clear to see that most children gain a basic understanding of death before they begin Kindergarten. They see dead animals. They see characters die on television.

Death is a big deal, and so kids want to talk about it. Unfortunately, thanatophobia gets in the way.

Instead of talking honestly with children about death, adults make up all kinds of nonsense to try to avoid the subject. They use euphemisms to avoid even mentioning death. They say that dead people have been “lost” or “passed away”. They make up stories about a magical afterlife where dead people go and everything is perfect.

We all know that’s not what death is really about. Yet, adults deceive children about death because of their own anxieties, perpetuating fear of death in another generation.

The new book You Are Going To Die: An honest book about death for courageous and intelligent kids by Peregrin Wood doesn’t play those warped psychological games with children. It tells the truth about death, without superstitious fantasies or fearful evasion.

It’s a children’s book, but one that doesn’t speak down to children. As the subtitle says, the book is for intelligent and courageous children who are curious and want to know the truth about death. It’s written at a 5th grade reading level, but we all know precocious second graders who are capable of reading such material.

It’s up to parents, and to children themselves, to determine when this book is appropriate.

The thing is, you can’t stop children from talking about death. They talk about it with their friends. They hear all kind of wild supernatural ghost stories. They get pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die sermons from preachers.

In the aptly titled You Are Going To Die, we finally get a voice of straightforward, sensitive but direct truth.

Yes, your children are going to die. Isn’t it time we stop lying to them about that?