Up to this point in our young family life, we've kind of avoided the topic of religion with the kids. This past Christmas was the first time we even discussed the meaning behind the holiday, but we really only kept to the Santa bits and avoided the whole Jesus aspect. My parents take the kids to church periodically, but at the tender age of 3, I just don't think Sam has enough mental capacity to grasp the whole 'saviour' concept.
Another concept he's having trouble with? The Easter Bunny. At least Santa is a person, therefore his actions are something Sam can understand. The whole down the chimney thing was a little confusing for him, but we just glossed over it and he was happy. An anthropomorphic bunny that brings egg and candy and hides them in a basket while he sleeps? Totally blew his mind and confused him.
And don't even get me started on Passover. I know next to nothing about other religious holidays, but they talked a lot about Passover at school. I was able to answer 0% of Sam's questions in regards to roasted bones.
So I'm hoping we can just wing it on Sunday morning. Once he gets some chocolate and jelly beans in him, I'm sure he'll be happy to accept any explanation we offer up. Sugar does that to a kid. Maybe that's why all of these holidays seem to center on gifts and goodies.
4 comments:
We're totally making it up as we go along. So far: Good Friday = breakfast at First Street Cafe, just me and the boy. Rain and tears threatened to bring the first annual to a screeching halt until the gal behind the counter brought out the Redi Whip. We followed that up with a trip to the "car doctor" to get the oil changed. Some ideas are perhaps more sustainable than others... :)
Happy Anthropomorphic Bunny Day weekend!
Now that you mention it, why does a rabbit bring us eggs and candy? That's not like any of the rabbits I know.
we told Jake that easter is the beginning of spring, and the earth comes back to life in the spring and the birds lay eggs and the flowers bloom and the baby animals are born, especially bunnies and chicks. and we eat chocolate because it tastes better than bunnies and eggs
Having eaten bunny I can assure you chocolate is better.
The BA was brought up in the Church of England tradition and took all of it in without a second thought. Then at 7 she turned to me after Palm Sunday and said
"So, what's all this Easter business about anyway?"
There's four years of Sunday School wasted.*
The Bunny was simple. We had a stuffed rabbit that appeared on Easter morning at the end of a trail of eggs, holding a big egg. All seemed perfectly sensible to the BA.
* Interestingly, the questions are now starting to get quite perceptive and challenging, as you would expect.
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