Reply to As an Atheist, what do you tell your little kids?

Forum Index » Religion

Reply to "As an Atheist, what do you tell your little kids?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I do not feel comforted by a god at all. I think if there is one, god is too busy to pay attention to me. And when someone dies I'm either comforted that they're "done" (they were old and finished living) or they're not tortured anymore (eating disorder, addiction, mental illness), or I'm not, but I miss them just the same.

You're trying to decide that not only should your kids believe in a god, but how they should feel about its presence. That's ... a lot.[/quote]

Okay, that’s fair, I’m assuming they’d be comforted by the presence of God while they’re little. I figured it’s sort of like Santa? [/quote]

God is not Santa. WTF? The two are nothing at all alike. Why are you assuming they will believe in god when little? Do you know anything about child development? Young kids have a VERY hard time understanding abstract concepts, which god is. Why are you assuming someone who can see them but they can't see will feel comforting rather than creepy and weird?  You seem to have very firm preconceived notions about this.[/quote]

That’s exactly why I’m posting this, because I have no idea if they would think god or some natural energy watching over them would be scary. Many of you have said it would creep them out - which is valuable feedback. This has helped me think through this - thank you! (And okay, maybe god isn’t similar to Santa…maybe Jesus would have been a better comparison).

My parents, on the other hand, routinely give my kids religious tokens that they get for free in the mail (think a cross with Jesus, prayer cards, picture of Pope, etc.). They pray before every meal, and my son looks at me like “WTF are they doing?” They also asked me why I didn’t set up the Christmas nativity set they gave me. Ughh. I’m wondering how to explain this all to my son while still being respectful to my parents and siblings. [/quote]

I'd just say about the nativity set "Yeah, I'm not really into that. Actually, let's donate it to someone who would appreciate it but maybe can't afford it." And then drop it off at a church. [/quote]

That's OK, in that it makes light of the idea of a nativity set, but it may seem like Mom is just asserting her power rather than teaching the kids something of value.  Perhaps it would be better to  assert that it's make believe.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics