Helping Muggle children handle end of book 6 (spoilers)

[Mhochberg at aol.com]

Katherine Coble writes:
I wish I had good ideas for this.  It was  hard enough for me to handle 
at 35.  I can only imagine what it's like  for young kids.
 
I reply:
Yes, it can be particularly hard on young teens and preteens. Also  they are 
old enough to understand that this is a fictional  character that they are 
grieving over and they are bewildered about  the strength of their reaction. Even 
those who cry in movies are surprised  at their reaction. 
 
Very young kids don't grasp death as well as well as this age group and  don
't seem to be as bothered. 
 
Katherine Coble writes:
I would say that it is probably a good time to  remind them of DD's 
words at the end of book 1  about death being the  next great adventure. 
Maybe it would also be good for them to hear  Gandalf's speech in 
LOTR:ROTK about the undiscovered country of death.
 
I know it's hard, but the only way for humans to triumph over death is  
to defeat our fear of it.  It seemed that DD wasn't afraid of death,  
and so he did triumph over it.

I write:
Those are all good suggestions and ones that I will mention. Fear of death  
is not something that I have passed on to my own children, thank goodness. They 
 may fear it but they know that, like DD, I know that there is the next  
adventure ahead.
 
I have to be extra careful when I talk to the kids as I do NOT believe that  
DD is truly dead or that he was betrayed by Snape. 
 
I was thinking about HBP and assigning a movie advisory rating. So  much 
depends on the child's own imagination. Even so, it wouldn't be more than a  PG. 
What makes it hard is that most kids got to know and love DD.
 
Thanks for your suggestions. This will be a good growing experience for the  
kids, especially as it will not only stretch their emotions but also get them  
thinking about their own beliefs about death. With a little luck, they will 
be  able to talk to their parents about it too, and so bring them all closer  
together.
 
---Mary