Relationships: obsession with death a normal stage of development for kids

It must be disturbing to see your daughter develop a sudden fascination with death. But this is a common phase for young children. Although she has not experienced death first-hand, think about all the television programmes, radio, internet, cartoons, and books in her life. If you start taking note, you will be surprised by the number of times the themes of death and loss are mentioned.

Children at the ages of four and five often say words such as "death", "heaven" and "gone", but they don't have the capacity to fully understand the permanency of death. Consider how often in cartoons characters are squashed or shot and then bounce back up again.

Children are great observers, and they learn by copying what they see or hear. Often in my practice, I see children acting out scenes with toys and talking about issues that frighten them, such as natural disasters or violent crime.

When a natural disaster strikes, your child will find it hard to avoid seeing it on television, or hearing about it on the radio (unless you turn it off). Some of the graphic details can be disturbing for young children.

They don't have to experience death through the loss of a relative, as it is everywhere.

This is not the time to discuss the violence that children are exposed to by the media, but I do wonder if this sort of material could desensitise children to aggressive behaviour in real life?