The concept of death is emotionally charged and cognitively challenging. Understanding that all people die, that death is the inevitable end of the life cycle of each living individual, is fundamental to our understanding of ourselves as human beings. Conceptualizing and accepting death has consequences for how we live our lives as well as for how we manage our health. For these reasons, twentieth-century psychologists of many different theoretical persuasions – Freudians, Piagetians, educators, health psychologists – have described young children's grappling with the concept of death. These studies have documented in great detail the ways in which preschool children conceive of death differently from their elders, and the steps they take in approximating adult understanding.