"Death. It’s a tough topic for grown-ups, let alone kids. When you become a parent, you expound upon every aspect of parenting with your family and friends until you’re blue in the face. How many long and drawn-out conversations have I had about breastfeeding, crying it out, and kindergarten curriculums?

But death? Hardly at all.

“I think our society in general does not want to talk about death and doesn’t want to deal with the messiness of grief,” said Emily Long, a licensed counselor and author of Sensitive Conversations: Talking with Kids About Death, Grief, and Violence . “So it is something that does get avoided a lot with kids — and in general.”

But kids, the most curious of creatures, won’t let you avoid it for long."

Read on about What to say - and not to say....