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we dug a little hole for the bee, and i set her body inside. kiddo insisted on covering her with earth. when that was done, i asked if she had any words for the bee. i think i might have been more specific, because her words were "I'm sorry [you are dead], honeybee."
just to offer thematic ideas for next time, i followed up to thank the honeybee for visiting our flowers and for being such a delight to 3yo. we have a wall of blossoming sunflowers that go about 10' high, and she loves to ride my shoulders to watch bees fly about their work.
@eigenrobot “I’m sorry you are dead, honeybee.” https://t.co/xCBRzfW9gt
after we spoke i told kiddo it was important to mark the spot of the burial (next to a rosebush), so that all people might understand that this was a place of honor. i gave her a twig to push into the ground, which she only did after i assured her it wouldn't hurt the bee.
epilogue https://t.co/ewhXYoHrfn
postscript to that other story afterward she wanted to talk a little more and we decided to go see where great grandma and great grandpa are buried. so we trekked up to the cemetery, and wandered around for a while looking for their marker. she asked me to read the names on other markers as we went along. it was a beautiful day, and she was curious but not sad. we left some daisies on their grave. she didn't have any questions about that. afterward as we were driving to get lunch (which turned into getting a lunchable and her first time in a car wash), she asked if i wanted to hear a song about a little girl and a little boy who died. (this is how she tells stories.) the song was actually an enumeration of everything the little boy and the little girl loved in the world, and how much they loved being alive. their dying was just a single nondescript line near the end. lesson there i think
