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| The child is dead and won't come to school anymore because it was killed by his unstable father. How terrible is that for a fellow classmate other than it is sad that his friend won't come to school anymore and that something bad has happened. | |
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It is NOT just "something bad", but death. Something, people at that age believe is reserved for the "antiques" of above 30 . And 6years old can well understand the difference between a classmate who relocated with his family to somewhere else and so "won't come to school anymore" and a classmate who died.
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| ..what would a 6 year old understand about mental illness? Absolutely nothing. All you do is possibly leave a bigger inprint in a childs live by creating more commotion. | |
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When explaining mental illness to a 6 year old you do NOT use that term. What term you use depends on the personality of the boy etc. This is where the specialists of the psychiatrist service come into play, as they know the right expressions to be used. If having to explain complex things to children you of course have to use your brains. You have to forget most of your usual expressions. At the other hand realize that 6 years olds no longer are babies. And quite many 5 or 6 years olds know what deaths is. And most of all realize that the "inprint" already is here. "More commotion" hardly is possible. These children know how "Bonstetten" is written and can see that it now has been on all the newspapers for some time, and can here that the name of their village is mentioned on TV. Mental illness is if "you have a bird in your head" !
