What is death to a child?

When I was eight years old my grandpa passed away. He had cancer and was slowly getting worse, it was good for us cause it was not a sudden death which is harder to explain to a child. I was old enough to understand the concept. But at that time I had also had a little brother that was four years old and he was not able to see very much of my grandpa while he was healthy. And really didnt understand what death really was so he wasnt able to cherish what little time my grandpa had before he passed away. I feel that this has positive and negative effects. Postive because my little brother really didnt miss him too much after my grandpa had passed away. So when he was old enough to better understand death he had already accepted the fact that my grandpa was dead. It is negative because he wasnt able to have as many good memories with my grandpa as we did. In reality one can even ask that if a child can even understand what death means. But the worst thing you can do is lie to the child by telling them that the deceased person is gone for awhile or that they went somewhere else. You should at least explain to them that you wont be able to see that person anymore. So that when they do understand what death is they wont feel lied too.