Thank you for this authentic take on parenting today. When I imagined being a parent years ago, I never thought I'd spend Augusts dreading the start of school, the latest shootings from the year before still fresh in mind.

In 2020, my daughter was 10, and like your son she expressed her fears of death. A long hike in nature afforded us the chance to talk about it calmly. Short story, death is part of life. What we really fear is losing people we love. Until then, they are with us, and we can express our love to them and spend time and be present. That's what's important, and all we can do.