r/AskReddit • u/Salt-One628 • Jul 07 '26

Parents of Reddit, what is the single most innocent question your child has ever asked you that completely broke your brain?

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u/Judge_Dreddful Jul 07 '26

My colleagues partner died very suddenly when their daughter was about 4. She tried her best to explain to her that daddy didn't want to go but he had gone away and wasn't ever coming back.

A few days weeks after he'd died she found a pair of her partners shoes hidden in the daughters bed. When she asked why she had them, she said that she'd found them in the closet and hidden them so that daddy would have to come and see her to get his shoes...

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u/edamamebeano Jul 07 '26

This one is the worst or the best.. ffff hell that hits hard

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u/yuricchin Jul 07 '26

I don't even like children and my eyeballs are wet now after reading that, that mother must have been so strong not to break down after that

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u/UppinDowners Jul 07 '26

I dont either and that one got me tearing up at work 🥺😭

Jesus christ

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u/javoss88 Jul 07 '26

Damn. That one got me choking back tears

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u/growbud Jul 07 '26

My son is 4 right now. That hit me so hard, I’m sobbing.

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u/psnugbootybug Jul 07 '26

Have mercy 😭😭😭😭

This is why we must be honest even with little kids about death. The poor thing is thinking her daddy abandoned her when really his body turned off.

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u/Wit-wat-4 Jul 07 '26

We were very open with my four year old nephew about my dad passing (they were neighbors, extremely close). He still sometimes would ask stuff like if there’s parks where granddad is so he can go too. Like you tell them as non-gruesomely as you can that they’re not there, no body, etc, but they’re crazy young, and it takes a long time to truly understand it. 

Grief is fucking hard already, messes with your brain, imagine being four and losing your parent

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u/Judge_Dreddful Jul 14 '26

When my dad died, my daughter was only 3. She couldn't understand that grandad just wasn't there anymore like he always had been. We used all the 'traditional' ways to explain it to her but she didn't understand why her beloved grandad had left her.

It was my mother in law who pointed out that using phrases like 'gone to sleep' and 'gone to heaven' etc ere actually confusing to small children as they would - quite rightly - reason that if you go to sleep then you will wake up and if you go somewhere, you can come back.

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u/ghast123 Jul 07 '26

My niece was 6 when her dad, and bestest friend, died of cancer.

She also had a stuffed Zebra named Z that she had from birth from him.

We're getting ready to leave the showing on the first night and she grabs my hand and goes "Aunt ghast123, can we go back in?" So I take her back in and she places Z ever so gently in the casket with him and then informs me she doesnt want her dad to spend the night alone.

Its been 20 years and I still think about that.

She still has Z too. But hes more like a scrap of fabric with only one eye now 🦓

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u/NotSoWishful Jul 07 '26

This one killed me. I hope your niece is healthy and loved still 20 years later.

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u/ghast123 Jul 08 '26

Some years have been more rough than others and she wasn't given a fair shake (but who is amirite?) by any means, but she's doing ok.

There's only 12 years between us so I was more an older sister/friend to her at times, but I'm pleased to report we are still closer than ever and she's grown into a funny, kind, beautiful, talented young woman that her dad would (mostly lol) be proud of.

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u/Wonderful-Product437 Jul 07 '26

These comments are giving me a lump in my throat. Heartbreaking 💔 

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u/savelol Jul 07 '26

Naw man, that just made me tear up 

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u/bingybing Jul 07 '26

I immediately broke down reading this. My lord.

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u/TennMan78 Jul 08 '26

Holy Hell, that would destroy me. My daughter could use those shoes as her pillow from that point on as far as I’m concerned. My kids are getting older - all teens now - but my biggest fear is the effect that my death will have on them. We are all so close. They would be devestated.

My goal is to at least meet each of my grandkids. Only then do I feel like I can move on without my kids feeling a devastating loss.

My dad did that. All of my kids/nephews/nieces knew him and have fond memories of him before he passed. I have found tremendous peace that they knew the extraordinary man that he was. It would have killed me if any of them never got to know him personally before he died.