explaining death to a 5yr old

That's a tricky one, it really must depend in this situation as to whether there's a chance of him hearing it from others or being put in a situation where he would find out.

Seriously it is hard to explain in usual terms when it is family etc and someone they are really really close to.

I think it also depends on how she died... ie sickness, old age or something worse. If which case you need to be careful that you don't say something that will give him more fears about it happening to himself or others..

When i first read this i thought that really, if there were no way he'd know I wouldn't tell him in order to shelter him from having to go through that, however in thinking about my own girls, I do think i'd be inclined to tell them if something had happened to one of their teachers. In saying that though they have had alot of losses in the last year so we are nearly all explained out about death and dying.

Maybe find out what the daycare is doing (if she had still been working there) as it may be that some of the children are welcome at her service or such, maybe ask them how they eplained it to the kids there too?

hope that helps a little.

Sounds like you need to tell him. I don't envy you that at all. If you don't think he will understand the emotional side of it perhaps you could keep in factual, still sensitive and age appropriate though. Maybe something like that her heart stopped working and she had to go to sleep forever (we call that dying), all her family and friends are very sad and miss her. You could include something about heaven but that is a hard concept to explain too.
I would be carefull about saying that she was sick as that might make Bailey afraid of being sick...
Oh I really don't envy you. Good luck with it.

Ok so i told him in much the same way that you mentioned saffron - i said to him "son you remember your teacher E*****? well she died the other day" he said "how come?" i said "She had something wrong with her heart, we can pray for her at daycare tommorow night" and he said "oh we can have a bbq for dinner".......so im not sure if he really understands?????