Lifetimes: The Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children

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Whether a ladybug, a ponderosa pine or family member, this book reveals through uncomplicated text and subdued illustrations that “each (living thing) has its own special lifetime. Lifetimes ~ A Beautiful Way to Explain Life and Death to Children is a book I have read and used many times with children. Throughout the book, the lifetime is explained as a beginning and an end, with living in the middle; it is established several times that this is true of all living things. Accompanied by some excellent illustrations of plants, animals and people which also help convey the theme of the book, Lifetimes is a gentle, sensitively written book that both children and adults find comforting and reassuring when dealing with a difficult topic.

Come down the travelators, exit Sainsbury's, turn right and follow the pedestrianised walkway to Crown Walk and turn right - and Coles will be right in front of you. For the last thirty-five years she has been providing information and guidance to humans and their animal companions through the use of telepathic communication, Reiki healing, Mer-Ka-Ba healing, and shamanic techniques. It talked about how plants, animals, fish, insects, birds, and humans all have a period of lifetime, then they die.This statement either reflects the authors' intent on only dealing with the concept of physical death, or it could be interpreted as their belief statement. He would ask for the book when he’s feeling worried about death but for the most part he doesn’t get upset about it anymore. The message, communicated as much through the graceful illustrations as through the words, is that the brevity of these creatures lives does not make them less beautiful or wonderous. It should be used as part of a comprehensive set of books on biological and familial concepts as it is not meant to answer all of a child's questions on life cycles, grief, death or dying.

Within its pages, I found no statements that could be offensive to anyone, regardless of their personal beliefs. When a close friend or family member dies, it can be difficult for children to express their feelings.Some of the line drawings (a dead bug, for instance) seemed a little strange - I mean, I guess that's the point, here's a bug that's alive, here's one that isn't, but still felt a little weird to me. I bought it for my 3 year old who doesn't yet grasp the concept of death but we have seen many dead insects and a good few dead birds and mice (pet cat - need I say more!

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. This book didn't focus on sadness or fear, rather it focused on how normal this process is and how every living thing will experience death at some point.With simple text and illustrations of nature, this book aims to normalize death by explaining it as a part of a given creature’s lifetime. A gentle, heartfelt and comforting guide to help children navigate the wonders of existence, from the joyful beginnings to the peaceful endings. Some deal with death of a loved pet and some deal with the death of a grandparent or other family member. It explains the cyclic nature of life and death for animals, plants and people in a matter of fact, beautiful and poignant way.

Later we could talk about our hopes and fears, but during the book we felt the calm rythm of the mystery of life. When my wife died, this was one of the books that were recommended to me by the social services so I'll be able to explain her death more easily to our kids. While I would personally use the adjective "realistic," rather than "beautiful," to describe this title, it is certainly not morbid or saccharine. Despite many subsequent imitations, I believe my father's book remains clearly the best, and I am sure he would also have been proud to see that it has helped so many people. Robert Ingpen created the illustrations for Colin Thiele’s iconic book ‘Storm Boy’ and since that time Ingpen has written and/or illustrated over 100 books, designed the flag and coat of arms for the Northern Territory and postage stamps, including stamps for the Captain Cook Bicentenary and the 50th anniversary of CSIRO.

This guidebook offers a comprehensive, easy-to-read overview of how children grieve and strategies to support them. This is a great book that talks about death as a natural thing without delving into topics like religion.