Teasing and using hypothetical or joking language is an incredibly complicated thing to grasp. Often, phrases are taken literally and responded to in a way they were not meant to. This is an intricate part of the english language and will be consistently heard in life. Shielding a child from jokes entirely will hurt them in the future, if they don’t develop with this crucial understanding. Joking doesn’t mean that life is unstable, it is simply a joke. It is important to work through misunderstandings as they occur, but shielding will hurt children more than protect them. There is, however, no need to pour every hard life reality and event on to a young kid. They don’t need to know intricacies of financial ruin, or every detail about drugs and sex or assault. Answering questions when asked, but not volunteering hurtful information is a way to go about this, and padding the answers slightly can also assist in teaching. Teasing kids is much different from showing them the entirety of reality, but in that case where harder subjects are questioned, denial will only lead to later hurt.