My son's hampster died.

Yep, you did the right thing. Kids are pretty smart and if you lie to them
about things like this or anything for that matter, it has consequences.
Kids can pretty much handle things if we as parents can talk to them in a
way they understand on their level. My daughter's hamster died last year.
She is 11 years old though and we were expecting it. We had a funeral and a
rock sits in our back yard in memory of Tootsie. )
--
Sue (mom to three girls)

jbrianchamberlin wrote in message
...

Well, we had him put down because he had a tumor. My wife was at work
and I had to deal with telling my 4 year old. Some people said to
lie, buy another hamster and make the switch.. others just said let
him deal with it. I didn't know what to do but we got through it okay.
He cried a little.. hell, I cried a little because of his reaction.
But then he helped me bury him outside and all seems to be well. My
son made be put a piece of candy in the box and before he buried him,
he asked if he could draw a picture for Joey. I thought it was pretty
sweet and so he did that. We put it in the box, he kissed the box and
he helped me bury it. He picked out a bright white rock as a marker
and then that was that. He's asked me a few times why Joey had to go
to hamster heaven. Did I do the right thing here? I sometimes wish
kids came with instructions. =)

--Chamberlin