How old were you when you realized that death exists?

[CoolCatMar1]

[jennifer_bloom]

When I was 4 my mother was going to take me to a funeral because she did not have a babysitter for me on the day of the funeral but later my aunt agreed to watch me while she went to the funeral without me. She would not talk to me about it after and I do not even know who died, whether it was a man or a woman or adult or child. I think she might have been worried I would make other people uncomfortable by talking about what she told me.

[Red-Blaze]

Honestly unsure.. pretty sure was young there
I live in a country with terror attacks and crazy drivers, missles
And its a small contry
So death is never too far, for family or friends

[Red-Blaze]

Thanks for MHO

[Kaneki05]

Since forever I guess? Can't remember at any point be shocked by such a thing. Probably because no one died when I was child so it wasn't really an upsetting topic. I've always played video games so pretty sure I understood it from those, and toy guns.

All I do remember really is when school forced me into a church they talked about afterlife about heaven and hell typical nonsense to try make you behave.
And I just said to the priest there something on the lines of "No when we die it becomes like before we were born." I dunno if that priest ever thought about that simple logic but I'm gonna guess he dismissed the simple correct answer for his hope of utopia after his death.

I said a lot of other things too, and never bothered to sing the hymns. As there I was the one logical kid bored out his mind by fantasy's people have come up with.

[Sour-rose]

...2...6? As a kid, I knew about death. I've heard that people of my family dying. I was scared of dying and sad because I didn't want to die. I was a kid... but then my first black dog died. Had no effect. But when my second one died while I was on a trip to be away from my mother, that's when it stabbed me for 3 days. Death is a thing, and it doesn't matter if you just took a nice poo, it will come when your time is up.

So now a days, I'm not that worried about it. I am living life to my fullest... and i've never felt more alive.

[Telekinetic-Potato]

I was pretty young. I don't know, death never really scared me. I always felt lucky to be alive in the sense that maybe I could have never existed in the first place. You gotta figure worst case scenario, that's what being dead would be like.

I don't know about anyone else but I don't remember anything from before I was born so I don't see much of a reason to be afraid.

[ChiTown33]

4 or 5... I'm not sure exactly. I remember when I first learned about the reality of death that my mother had to talk to me and wait till I'd fall asleep each night because was so scared.😂 Kids are funny. It probably only lasted a week but it seemed like it was forever. Because kids have a warped sense of time.😂

[AydenHazor]

My earliest reflection of death was my biological grandfather dying when I was 5. I feel like I already understood it at that time, but it didn't really hit me either as I never knew him, only met him once in his deathbed and knew he wasn't a good man (abusive alcoholic)

[msc545]

I was about 11 when my uncle died and I went to the funeral with my parents. I really wish I hadn't done that since afterward it occurred to me that I too someday would die. I worried about that for a good 2 years before I finally made my peace with it to the extent that anyone is able to do that.

[BoopBoopBeep]

7 or 8... i used to bury the roadkill in the woods by the creek where I rode my bike. Had to check the dead opossums for baby opossums still nursing. Thankfully I never found any.

[nolabels]

I was 11 when my dad died.

I may have been aware of death before then, I guess.

I became intimately familiar with death when dad passed.

[4ngelic]

about 4 i think, my mom bought me a book about death for some reason and i remember her explaining me the concept of it and i was really scared

[Smashingdoozy]

My earliest memory is like almost 5 years old the family god passed away and my parents at the time explained what that meant

[AviatorTom]

I was 8 when my pet Guinea pig died, my first understanding of death. I was 13 when my grandmother died, my first understanding of human death.,

[BCRanger10]

I was five or six years old. A classmate's grandfather died and my parents took me to his wake.

[AaronKrieger]

Around 9 years old I saw the impact it can on people, but 10 - 11 for when my first dog died. That was upsetting.

[EmmaMary]

I was probably about five years old when my beloved guinea pig passed away.

To say I was heartbroken would be a vast understatement.

[sheikalana]

Can't remember the exact age but I remember being very very young and being frightened about my grandma possibly passing away one day.

[WhitneySnow]

I was seven when my cat died. That’s the earliest I can remember thinking about it, though I guess I knew it existed before that.

[KostasKouvalis]

I don't remember exactly, but I was raised Catholic so fairly young.

But it wasn't two years ago when the reality hit me that, "Holy shit, I'm gonna die some day!"

[Agape93]

Knew of it? Like 5 or 6 through church. But KNEW of it? Like 19 or 20

[DizzyDesii]

Not sure. But it never really affected me until a kid almost drowned in 2006

[exitseven]

I don't remember but I know in kindergarten the local mailman died and the teacher explained to me that he was in heaven. I was 4 years old.

[Sparkie460]

I was 3 when my grandfather died. 6 months later my grandmother died.

[Karate_Aaron]

I was like 5 years old, and I asked my mother when she was going to die. It freaked her out, but I guess I figured I should start planning for it? lol

[The_Shadow_Dweller]

5 years I guess. My grandfather died.

[inhua]

when I stepped on bugs

[Alexandrubaschet08]

3 my grantfather die and been to the funerars

[TomMarks]

Young , when a pet bird died.

[Massageman]

9-10 with grandparents.

[Wise4myage]

I was six, it’s when a relative died.

[AmeerX]

I think it was around 8 or 9 years old

[TallAnon]

Quite young, grandmother died quite early on

[manthan_5545]

I don't remember I was too young 😂

[Ms_Facesitter]

8 or 10

[MementoMori777]

like 5-8

[red_knight]

Too young

[Mansearching]

6 years old

[LavLavLuv]

I don't know.. 5?

[Christoff92]

When I was 7

[Tanya_]

I was 7 yo

[BLP11520]

10 years old