I went through this a number of times with my son when he was about 4-5 (he's 9 now) We had a mouse and two rats total. The first mouse died suddenly and unexpectedly, but as Kevin said, sometimes rodent just croak.
Explaining it was very difficult, but as with all things, the truth is better, so that is what we told Andrew. We didn't dress it up with "he's happier now" or "he's in a better place." We simply told him the truth, that the mouse was dead and sometimes that happens. We told him that he would have many more pets and that sometimes they would be around for a long long time and sometimes not. He didn't take it well, but he understood. The first rat we had died in much the same fashion, so we had much the same discussion. The third rat, unfortunately died in a bizarre accident...Andrew was playing with him and accidentally crushed him (tripped over a toy in his room and fell on top of the rat)...and let me tell you, there is nothing in the world as heartbreaking as seeing a 5 year old boy holding his dead pet in his hand and asking "Daddy can you fix him?" Honesty is the best policy. > Now I'm not sure if I should keep the promise to my niece or not... I > don't like the idea of replacing his immediately, but forcing him to > give her one in a few days just seems cruel. As for the buying of the hamster for the neice perhaps it might be best to delay the purchase for a little while. But explain it to everyone involved that your son is very excited about picking out a hamster and that when the time is right (when *he's* ready) you'll fulfill your promise. Should be okay in the short term and will definately be better in the long term. HTH will PS -- My condolences on the loss of the pet. Hang in there, we've lost 1 mouse, 2 rats, 1 cat (hit by a car), 3 birds (1 woke up dead one morning, the others got gassed (long story), and a number of goldfish. We're thinking of naming our little place Chateau de la Mort... ^_^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 Signup for the Fusion Authority news alert and keep up with the latest news in ColdFusion and related topics. http://www.fusionauthority.com/signup.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
