Not Zvi and not a parent but: Every kid learns about death, and it is true for every kid that they might not get to grow up. Extinction is different, but not so different (to a child’s mind) from the threat of nuclear war, or even regular war, both of which many children have had to face before. I’m also not aware of concrete policies on how to explain to kids that they and everyone they love will die, but it’s not like it’s a new problem.
I haven’t had this conversation with my kids because they haven’t asked, but I think the main things they disvalue about death are 1. their own death and 2. separation from people they love. I think the additional badness of “and everyone else would be dead too” is less salient to young kids. There might actually be some comfort in thinking we’d all go together instead of some people being left behind.
One of my kids got interested in asteroid strikes after learning about how dinosaurs went extinct, about age 4. She’d look out the window periodically to see if one was coming, but she didn’t seem disturbed in the way that I would be if I thought there might be an asteroid outside the window.
Even if we’d had the conversation, I’d expect this to be a pretty small factor in their overall quality of life. Actual loss of someone they know is a bigger deal to them, but learning about death in general seem to result in some bedtime tears and not a lot of other obvious effects.
8-year-old: Will humans go extinct in my lifetime? Him: Definitely not 8-year-old: Why? Him: If you’re alive, humans aren’t extinct yet 8-year-old: That doesn’t make me feel better
Not Zvi and not a parent but: Every kid learns about death, and it is true for every kid that they might not get to grow up. Extinction is different, but not so different (to a child’s mind) from the threat of nuclear war, or even regular war, both of which many children have had to face before. I’m also not aware of concrete policies on how to explain to kids that they and everyone they love will die, but it’s not like it’s a new problem.
I haven’t had this conversation with my kids because they haven’t asked, but I think the main things they disvalue about death are 1. their own death and 2. separation from people they love. I think the additional badness of “and everyone else would be dead too” is less salient to young kids. There might actually be some comfort in thinking we’d all go together instead of some people being left behind.
One of my kids got interested in asteroid strikes after learning about how dinosaurs went extinct, about age 4. She’d look out the window periodically to see if one was coming, but she didn’t seem disturbed in the way that I would be if I thought there might be an asteroid outside the window.
Even if we’d had the conversation, I’d expect this to be a pretty small factor in their overall quality of life. Actual loss of someone they know is a bigger deal to them, but learning about death in general seem to result in some bedtime tears and not a lot of other obvious effects.
Apparently this was my husband’s approach:
8-year-old: Will humans go extinct in my lifetime?
Him: Definitely not
8-year-old: Why?
Him: If you’re alive, humans aren’t extinct yet
8-year-old: That doesn’t make me feel better