Funerals

I was probably around four when I was taken to the funeral of my great grandmother. I was made to touch the body on the hand at the viewing by an unthoughtful relative who carried me up to the casket .... I still have stigmas about attending funerals .... I would wait until your child is older ....

Children do need to learn about death but a funeral is not the way to introduce it to a six year old child. Unfortunately I have been to tomany funerals and I could never subject my children to such a traumatic thing at a young age.

i grew up going to funerals from the time i was young as my mother was the youngest of four and her father was the youngest of eight.   the funerals were sad, but i learned very early that death was a natural part of life.  we rarely ever witnessed dramatic displays of grief, but i can imagine that if my mother thought that was a possibility that she would not have taken us with her.  there's a difference i think between seeing people be bereft and seeing people totally losing it. 

but that's just one point of view!  i wonder how the rest of the minti community thinks on this one!

While we have attended many funerals over the years the only time when my kids have attended was when they were extremly close to the person that has past over which has been only on two occasions..Both times i have asked if they wish to attend and then explained that people they love will be very upset and probably not their usual selves, after the funeral, at the wake they have caught up with family members  that they havnt seen for a while and that has seemed to take the sting out of the previous events...they seemed to have handled it well (much better than us adults!) though they asked a lot of questions which i happily answered for them...you know your child best  maybe talk with them and see if they have any understanding of whats going to happen then do only what your comfortable for them to do, i know for my lot it was a grieving process they went through to understand about life and death and i have had no problems over our decisions..

I saw this in Q&A.  It is such a hard call and you know your child best.  I hope that you will be able to follow your instinct and judgement to come to the best decision.  Have you discussed it with him?  Or is the date passed now?  How does he feel about it all.   I know my daughter tends to have a very sensible head on her sometimes when it comes to serious issues like this.
Peace
EF.x