Mom, why do we die?

My daughter told me this week that she doesn’t want to end up in the big rock with Jesus.

Upon further questioning, I found out that my daughter believes that when you die, you are forced to go into the big rock that I told her about as part of the Easter story. Apparently her maternal grandmother is also there with Jesus waiting for her arrival to the rock.

Somehow, my theological explanations about the afterlife went terribly awry.

So I launched into a follow-up discussion on where I believe we go when we die, why Jesus was in the big rock and why it is important that he came out of that tomb. During this explanation, I discovered that explaining life and death to a 3-year-old is very difficult, and that a 3-year-old is about as tough an interrogator as you’ll ever meet.

She wanted to know where our bodies go if they aren’t in the big rock. Then she was scared of being put in the ground. That led to a discussion of the difference between a spirit and a body. That, in turn, segued into questions about why we have to get old and die. It was a pretty profound (and probably confusing) talk to have with a 3-year-old, and I’m not sure how much of it she really grasped. Hey, I thought she understood the rock thing and look how far off I was on that.

So I could use some tips on how to discuss these weighty life, death and afterlife topics with a toddler. I don’t want to scare her about death, but I also don’t want to evade her questions. I’d also like to avoid her telling other kids at preschool about how her grandmother lives in a rock with Jesus.

Any thoughts on how to broach these topics? How can you make your beliefs on the afterlife understandable for kids?