“You tell him directly. You will use words like death, and died, and dead. Terms like passed away or isn’t with us anymore will only confuse him. I know these words can be uncomfortable and hard to say, but it will give him the best understanding. He needs to comprehend that he will not be seeing his mother anymore. That when people die, their hearts stop beating. And we won’t cover it with talking about her as being”—her knobby fingers come up in air quotes—“‘sick.’ Because, again, he will relate that back to himself. The next common cold he gets will cause unnecessary stress.”
