Perhaps one of the most difficult situations parents ever face is telling their children that a loved one has died. We are afraid children won't understand death, or that they'll be crushed emotionally. Most likely, we have no idea when to tell them or what to say. In fact, children understand more than we think.
Death education begins when a leaf falls from a tree, or when they see a dead animal in the street.
Even at the age of two or three, they ask about death. So if someone close to your child has died, you shouldn't try to avoid telling her. Children can and do handle death well - often better than the adults around them. Like adults, children need to come to terms with death and the grief that accompanies it. When a death occurs, someone close to the child should tell her - preferably a parent, or a grandparent if a parent cannot.