Some cultures completely avoid the subject of death–to the point where it is taboo to even talk about it. Faith communities and certain other societies are less hesitant to talk about death, and many of the most enlightened discussions depict physical death as a kind of spiritual birth.
How we talk about (and how we think about) death can have a significant impact on our children. Clearly, it is easier for people of faith and belief in a hereafter to think positively about death, but with the right mindset, we can all think of death more as a kind of birth and bring a comforting long-range perspective into our families’ lives.
The fifth book the Eyres ever wrote is titled The Birth That We Call Death (co-authored with Paul H. Dunn) and it shares some of the wisdom and insight of great thinkers from Shakespeare to Nathaniel Hawthorne to Benjamin Franklin on this subject, and it is insight that applies to us all and to our families.
Listen to a podcast from the Eyres on this subject, and if you want to go still further, receive the entire book for free: