3 year old saying dying and died... normal?

[Louise88]

My dd goes to a catholic school and shes very interested in god and loves praying and singing songs about god, i'm open minded about it but not religious so she hasn't been brought up around any religious beliefs however I do pray with her as she likes me to. A couple days ago she found a pair of scissors I took them off her and said in a silly voice 'we wouldn't want you chopping off your fingers' and she replied 'because id die?' and yesterday she was telling me about James being in my tummy when he was a baby and I died, she has said it a few more times as well. I can see she doesn't understand what die means or has a very rough idea. Is it normal for a 3 year old to be talking about 'death' We have never discussed it ourselves and she rarely gets looked after so I can only think shes maybe learnt it from school but do they teach 3 year olds about death?

 

[LilMiss_91]

My son talks about "dead" and people trying to "die" other people. He gets it from a combination of being surrounded by older cousins and adults and also from films. I try my best to not explain too much but not to completely brush it aside or belittle it. I try and explain that so-and-so isn't really dead, they're just a bit poorly or hurt themselves. The latest is trying to explain that Hiro (in Big Hero 6 :doh is sad because his brother died and he misses him.
I wouldn't worry too much, I think it's normal and so long as it's dealt with in an age appropriate way, death is a very important concept to get to grips with.

 

[staralfur]

Once my LO hugged me and made a sad face and said "I don't want you to die mama, I'll protect you." It came out of nowhere, I was watching my back for a while there.

But yeah, she makes sort of passing, non-serious comments about it like her stuffed animal will fall off the couch and she'll say "no teddy, don't fall off the cliff, you might die!"

I think it's fairly normal.

 

[AngelofTroy]

I think it's pretty normal. It's bound to come up at some point. Even simple things like bugs and plants dying. Micah is fascinated if he finds a dead bug. And now that he is old enough to watch a few Disney films etc he regularly tells me that 'bad guys' kill people.

On a more serious note he knows that some of his great grandparents died a long time ago and that his friend doesn't have a granny anymore because she died.

I remember when he learned the word die as in dice for a game, he said "oh, so die can be a thing with spots on AND when your daddy is gone forever and lives in the sky like in Lion King"

 

[gingajewel]

My lo goes to a catholic school too although none of us are catholic! They are taught about Jesus dying and I think because of lent and Easter coming up they have done a lot of work surrounding this, so it may have come from that?

 

[Banshee]

My 3 year old says die and dead. I've never tried to not let him hear the word so I guess he's just picked it up. I guess because my mum died when I was pregnant with ds2 and we go to her grave I have explained the concept of death from an early age. I'm not sure how much he really understands but he uses the words.

 

[londonangel]

Mine always talked about death at that age. It didn't help that I told her my brother died (suicide, but I didn't give her that level of detail). I have always been open with her about what death is though. A fish died at her nursery and when it was not there and I said 'it has probably died' I was pointedly informed by one of the staff that 'well to the other children it has gone on holiday'. I asked if it had actually gone on holiday and received an odd look and a 'no'. Why say that then? It is just ridiculous and confusing for the children.

 

[LilMiss_91]

I was pointedly informed by one of the staff that 'well to the other children it has gone on holiday'.

This is one of the strangest things I have ever heard! Death is a very real thing and I think by trying to overly protect children from the concept it does them a disservice.

 

[SarahBear]

My three year old has used those words. Death comes up in conversation. Dead leaves, dead bugs, characters dying in movies, dead great grand parents, et cetera. We also try to give thanks at dinner. We thank the animals that died for our meal and sometimes the plants as well. Yesterday she said "thank you chicken for being brave when that person killed you!"