Panter the Hamster

Our dwarf hamster 'Panter' died of old age, we discovered him after church today. Anytime a pet dies it is hard, since I am an adult and parent I want to teach my children that death is a part of life, and this seemed like a good opportunity to teach them this. Zhivanna, of course, shed the most tears over him (I thought she would make a good professional wailer), Akorren was very stoic about it, and Merlova really didn't understand and commented several times saying, "He is dead mommy?, Panter our hamster is dead, he is dead, that's sad!" This of course was upsetting for Akorren and Zhivanna who thought she was not being respectful about Panter's passing. They got to hold the little hamster body and say goodbyes to him and then daddy helped them to bury him under one of our bushed on the side of the house. Akorren did not want to touch him at all, the girls were not afraid about it and really wanted to hold him for as long as they could. Merlova kept asking, "But why is he DEAD mommy? Why he not working?" I was able to give her simple answers about his body and how his inside parts did not work any more. I have had many a hamster in my life growing up as a child and have seen them come and go. It's always a little sad. The part that got me choked up was seeing my children feel sorry and experience sadness but I do know that this is a part of life they will have to come to deal with. It was not until later in the afternoon that Akorren got sad and broke down, crying about missing his hamster (now that got me teary). To lift up spirits after this event, I took out some of the Christmas decorations and let the kids decorate their little trees and put a few holiday things out. I know we will look to get an new little pet in the coming year. But today was a good day to learn that death is not scary and that it's okay to feel sadness when someone you love is gone, it all natural and human. Merlova and her nutcracker, Akorren and his tree, Zhvianna and her purple one.