When they understand the finality of death, that’s when you have this unique opportunity to let them know that a curiosity about this very intense, existentially painful fact is ok. And that’s because this is the magical age that they actually understand mortality to be real, but they’re not yet tainted irrevocably by society and so they have no shame asking questions. The age range was everything from 6-13, but I would say ages 8-10 were the real bulk of the questions. For the second half of the book, I turned to my YouTube channel and made a video asking people to please send me their children, so people sent me little videos and clips. “Will my cat eat my eyeballs?” was the first question that sparked my desire to do this book. So the first half of the book I wrote from questions that were asked to me while on tour for my first two books. What was the age range of the kids who the questions came from, and where did you typically meet them? Reacting in a way that acknowledges and honors their curiosity also makes them feel safe to have questions about sexuality, or politics, or whatever difficult things come up down the line. To be clear, I’m not advocating “Talk to your kids about decomposition whether they like it or not.” It’s about when your child is curious, meeting them where they are. It’s for talking with your children about death and it’s for directly giving to your children if you feel comfortable with that.įor precocious children I would say starting at nine and up, and otherwise starting at maybe 12. But this book is also a chance for adults to go back to their morbid childhood and experience the wonder of a dead body. They have a whimsy and a straightforwardness to them that gets people’s attention. The idea of having children’s questions is that they’re provocative, blunt, and they snap people out of the mundane. What was the idea behind writing a children’s book? She is co-owner and funeral director of Clarity Funerals and Cremation, a funeral home with a wide variety of affordable and sustainable burial options in Los Angeles, where she lives. Caitlin Doughty is the founder of The Order of the Good Death, creator of her own “ Ask a Mortician” YouTube series, and author of best-sellers Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, From Here to Eternity, and most recently Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?.
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