I think if a person wishes to be present at a death watch and the person dying is okay with/desires their presence, it would be cruel to deny either parties this, regardless of age.
Doesn't the parent have some sort of responsibility, wherein a child's desire to be there might be an ignorant one or not understood well enough to justify "wanting" to? When i asked daddy for my own gun when I was 9, even that sob made the ingenious conclusion that he should probably not do that for me. In my head however, the desire was genuine and in no way ill-intended for anyone.. it also had no regard for the risks involved; in the death watch scenario, that risk would be unpredictable trauma that could surface aggressively years later in life. Permanently. A child most likely isn't considering his own exposure to traumatic experiences resulting in late-onset PTSD when he just wants to see how his brother is doing.
Perhaps I am not fully aware of how one can acquire PTSD and which situations can induce it, but - while I agree there are definitely certain situations where observing a death could be extremely emotionally trying - it doesn't seem extremely likely that being present in a controlled hospital situation while someone dies is going to cause PTSD. I'm only excerpting from Wikipedia here so this doesn't mean that much, but: I mean, it's death. It's a natural part of life. It's not pretty but everyone is going to experience it, and probably more than once through their lifetime; I don't subscribe to a "think of the innocent children!" mentality where it's better to protect a child from reality because of their youth. Like I said there are situations which I think could be more borderline, for instance if a person is hit by a car and is suffering grievous physical injuries, or a person who had suffered burns over the majority of their body and is dying from that. However, especially in the first situation, I'm pretty sure you're not going to have a lot of time to assemble a death watch in the first place. You know how ignorance is resolved? Exposure. Do you not think that being unable to say a final goodbye to your brother or mother as they were dying could not also potentially result in unpredictable trauma and potential resentment against the family members who prevented a child from being there? And, the question that my opinion hinges upon for most of this discussion: Are you willing to be that person that tells a child they are not allowed to say goodbye?Most people having experienced a traumatizing event will not develop PTSD.[2] Women are more likely to experience higher impact events, and are also more likely to develop PTSD than men.[3] Children are less likely to experience PTSD after trauma than adults, especially if they are under ten years of age
Neither do I. I think/hope we're on the same page now on the other thread:)I don't subscribe to a "think of the innocent children!" mentality where it's better to protect a child from reality because of their youth.
Completely agree with and find this statement reasonable. Don't worry though - we are allowed to disagree ;) But I will not willingly expose him to death without his complete and full understanding of what it is and how he is/is not prepared to handle it.
I feel like somehow I was more resilient as a little dude than I am now. I can't explain it, but I would probably take a death harder now than I did as I was young. Maybe it's because I understand it better but still, I don't know.