When we found out our beloved dachshund, Bacon, was unexpectedly dying, I was completely overwhelmed by the task of explaining the upcoming loss to our three-year-old. Pet loss is often children’s first experience with death and grief. It gives us, as their caregivers, a beautiful, albeit loaded, opportunity to create a healing, transparent, and gentle opening into starting the grief conversations.

It makes sense that we may not know how to talk to our kids about death and dying. We are fiercely protective of our little ones’ hearts, so the thought of talking about subjects as heavy as death can feel scary.

Here are three of the most common mistakes I see adults make when talking to kids about pet loss:

Parents often believe........

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