Often I’ve experienced an instinct in parents to hide Death and Grief from children until an undeniable event of death occurs. In some cases, as we see in sitcoms, parents will continue to hide death as a concept from children when a deniable event of death occurs, such as the death of a goldfish or small animal. Avoiding talking to children about various types of grief or dying can prevent them from building empathy when a friend goes through the death of a loved one or when the child themselves needs to navigate emotions when there has been a death in the family.