K.P.
Hi K.! One of our sons (6) experienced excessive anxiety and worries after his papa passed away last April. He worried about everything that it became paralyzing to him. He did not want to go to school, he did not want to play with friends or his brothers, he would cry about everything and clutch on to me or his dad if we had to separate...he did not want to leave my side. I even found him curled up in his bed sound to sleep in the afternoon a couple times. This is the way his day went from the time he woke up until he'd finally cry himself to sleep at night. He was clearly depressed. It was agonizing for me to watch our little boy withdraw the way he did as he was always so happy. This went on for two months with me trying everything. Honestly, I know this will sound crazy, but I didn't put together that this was triggered by my father's passing because, for a couple months after, Brian seemed okay. We talked a lot about Papa and he seemed to mourn his loss as you would expect a normal 6 yr. old to do. Each of our boys processed the loss differently. For Brian, the significance of his papa being gone seemed to hit him slower.
It is good that your son is trying to talk to you in his own little way about his worries. They are very real to him. And you're a great mom for listening to him and trying to ease the burdens in his heart.
I will say that we were getting ready to get help from a doctor when I found a book that came highly recommended called "What to Do When You Worry Too Much" - A kid's guide to overcoming anxiety by Dawn Huebner, Ph.D. It helped our Brian tremendously. I thought, before I put him through a big ordeal of being seen by a therapist, etc., let's just try a more subtle approach...what do I have to lose. It was amazing how the methods in this book brought our little guy back. This book addresses all kinds of worries for kids (not just death.)...and it's a very easy-to-start, easy-to-comprehend method...very cute too!
You can check it out on Amazon and read the reviews...there are other books too, but I can only speak on this one.
Good luck and God bless.