{Tough Questions}

Last night as I was laying in bed with Millie, she started asking some tough questions.  She wanted to know what happens when you die, when you die, if "ten is when you die" (ten is really old to her...), when she would die, if you go in a box when you die ... Yeah, not really a topic I wanted to discuss with my three-year-old.  I'm not entirely sure where the questions were coming from.  We started reading fairy tales this week and they almost always include someone dieing so that may have gotten her little wheels turning. 

I did my best to answer her questions truthfully but in a way that wouldn't scare her -- and also to redirect her to falling asleep!  These are the moments that you wish would never come when you are gazing in the eyes of your newborn baby.  These are the moments that you know are just going to get tougher as your children get older.  Do you tell your kids that they aren't going to die any time soon and neither are you even though you don't know for sure?   Do you confidently describe life after death even if you have questions of your own?  I don't know if I gave her the "right" answers, but I did my best to stay true to my own beliefs without making promises I couldn't keep -- all while trying to not make it something that she would continue to worry about. 

It's become clear that Millie is a sensitive child.  Anticipation causes her anxiety (e.g. I think knowing that a scary or "bad" part is coming in a story is worse for her than the actual scary/bad part).  So, do we try to shelter her from things that might cause her to excessively worry?  Or do we expose her to them and try to help her work through them?  It seems so early to steal away her innocence.  I'm tempted to shield her from these things for just a little while longer...