Talking about celebrity deaths with young kids

[Anonymous]

OP, just turn off your blaring TV, problem solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, just turn off your blaring TV, problem solved.

OP here. Kid actually doesn't watch TV yet (although DVR sometimes on the weekend). We never just have the TV on, since we don't watch much ourselves. We do listen to a lot of music around the house, though, both kid-friendly (e.g., Frozen) and pop music. DH has an old poster of Ali, so kid knows who he is, and that his daughter is also a boxer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are making this about you OP. Your daughter might know that mommy listens to Prince, but she will have zero emotional or cognitive connection to him.

+1 You kids don't care about celebrity deaths. The celebrities aren't even real to them.

[Anonymous]

Op what I'm getting here is you have too much freetime and you are so idle. Do you have any other hobbies or interests other than just just motherhood? Why would you think a 5 year old cares about celebrity deaths to the point that you want to have the talk?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op what I'm getting here is you have too much freetime and you are so idle. Do you have any other hobbies or interests other than just just motherhood? Why would you think a 5 year old cares about celebrity deaths to the point that you want to have the talk?

OP here. Ha! This is pretty hilarious, both because it's so far from the truth (I work full time in healthcare research and am a research professor at a med school), and because you apparently saw fit to draw conclusions about the life of an anonymous poster based on very little data. Sounds like you might be the one that needs a hobby.

For the couple of posters that offered advice or anecdotes, appreciate it. I think I'll go with only bringing up if she hears about it, and explaining it in terms of healthy behaviors, as stated earlier.

[Anonymous]

I forgot to tell my DD (9) about Carrie Fisher last night. She saw it on the news this morning and came upstairs crying while I was in the shower. So yeah, kids do notice and care.

[Anonymous]

This doesn't require more than a moment's thought. Public figures die all the time. "Yes, honey, I know that Carrie Fisher died. I'm sad about it. I liked her in Star Wars." Not sure where the conversation would go, or would need to go, from there. You're really overthinking this in an odd way. Would a kindergartner come home from school and say "Mom, I heard Carrie Fisher died from drug and alcohol abuse"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why woukd you need to discuss these deaths with a young kid?

The only person on that list that kids know and care about is Princess Leia.

Since she looked very old to them in the Force Awakens, you just need to say "Yes, she was very old and her heart stopped working" if it comes up in conversation. Nothing more.

George Michaels means nothing to kids. They have no idea who he is and he is not enough of a star to have been on any kid's radar.

They won't know who those other people are either.

Don't speak for everyone, please.

My child, age 6, knows who Prince, George Michael, and Carrie Fisher are. Also Bowie, who kicked off the celebrity death year. Telling a child "Yes, she was very old and her heart stopped working" opens the door for "She's the same age as Grandma!" and "But Mommy, YOU'RE really old!"

You can explain that people die from a lot of things. For example, DD's great-grandmother (who she is named after) died of cancer. David Bowie died of cancer. So when she asked how David Bowie died, we told her, "He had cancer like your great-grandma, and the doctors were not able to save him." She knows what a heart attack is, so when she heard DH mention to me that Carrie Fisher died, I told her, "She had a heart attack."

In any case, your comment is not relevant to a lot of kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't really have advice, but I was 8 when Elvis died. My parents were huge fans and it was a big deal to everyone around. I understood, but it felt like something on TV, not real.
I remember asking how he died and knowing he took too many pills. I also heard he ate too many fatty things like fried peanut butter and bacon sandwiches (lol), and drank too much.
My siblings don't remember it at all. They were 6 and 4. I still love hearing Elvis songs.

I remember Elvis dying too! I was 7. I don't remember the specific circumstances, but I do remember the event (and John Lennon in 1980.)

[Anonymous]

I haven't told my daughter yet that Carrie Fisher died. I'm kind of hoping her dad will so I don't have to do it. We marathoned all the Star Wars movies together and she liked Leia almost as much as I did.

[Anonymous]

I was pretty upset when Bowie died and played music loudly in the house for at least a week. Kids knew who he was, knew he died and knew he was quite old. They asked "did he do drugs?"

and I said "yes, he used to"

they were 8 and 9 at the time.

Before that, Robin Williams died and they knew he was Mrs. Doubtfire and the guy in Jumanji and they knew it was sad for a lot of people. They also asked how he died and I said " he had a long term illness he couldn't face so he killed himself unfortunately".

You just have to be straight. You don't need a sermon attached.

[Anonymous]

Why on earth would your 5 year old know who these people are?

[Anonymous]

You don't. Politics either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this is the right forum, but here goes:

Prince

Muhammed Ali

Carre Fisher

George Michael

Phife Dawg (Tribe Called Quest)

These are just some of the famous figures that have died in 2016 that my kindergartner is familiar with. She's been asking occasional questions about death (maybe every few months) since seeing a kid's movie at age 3 that merely hinted at the concept of death. She knows that most people die when they are very old, but most of these figures that have died this year are not very old. How are people talking to their young kids about the deaths of famous people this year? Recently she's been into Princess Leia, and I have not yet told her that Carrie Fisher died--don't know if we need to, but just curious how other people have handled the topic if it's come up.

No advice but props for making sure your kid knows who Phife is.

[Anonymous]

No advice but props for making sure your kid knows who Phife is.

OP here--thanks. She and I were just listening to some old Tribe tonight. For some reason this is the first verse that came to mind when I saw your comment earlier today:

"Yo, Phife, you remember that routine
That we used to make spiffy like Mr. Clean?"



RIP, Phife.