Friday, April 24, 2009

Explaining what other people do...

:Image:Religious syms.png bitmap traced (and h...Image via Wikipedia

How do you explain to kids how others worship and believe in their religions? Have you had to do this? Was it successful or funny or horrid?

My 5 year old son is going to a magic show with a friend from school and it's in a church (I think it's to raise money for something). He's going with his friend's parents and they are fairly religious. I was getting him ready when it suddenly occurred to me, he's NEVER been in a church. We've been near churches and I had sort of told him about them, but only briefly. Today I had to do a little explanation and also give him some rules of how to act in a church (don't tear around like a ninny, or scream or knock things down). I told him that churches are where some people go to talk to their god, that they only have one god and that these are the same people that celebrate Christmas instead of Yule and have Easter later than us. I think he gets it, but I'm a bit concerned that he'll shock people by knowing nothing about it. Yikes! I don't care for myself, but I'm concerned that if the religious discussions come up (unlikely at a magic show) that he'll be confused or embarrassed.

Has anyone been through this?

Template by - Abdul Munir | Daya Earth Blogger Template