Reply to Interfaith families raising Jewish kids -- talk to me about the December dilemma

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]Keep the focus on Hanukah at your house. Just because you go to a b-day party doesn;t mean it is yor b-day.[/quote]

I love this line. What a nice way to put it in terms of an experience that children understand.
[/quote]

Yes, this is perfect. Explain that Christmas is a holiday that grandparents, aunts, uncles, whomever, celebrate, and it is nice to celebrate with people we love. We are Jewish, DH and I and our parents and (single) siblings, but I have first cousins that are Christian (or actually, athiests/agnostics who default to Christian holidays, but whatever). One of my cousins has kids my age and they came to visit over Passover/Easter this year. They didn't eat bread while they were here since we were observing Passover and it was our home, but the Easter bunny did come and bring their Easter baskets. And because the Easter bunny is a nice being, he also brought Easter baskets for my children, who were thrilled with the novelty (and the junk). They were old enough (6 and 9) to understand that we were helping our cousins celebrate, and it was likely a one-time occurrence. While in your case it seems that this will happen year after year, all that means is that it will give you a chance to reinforce respecting other people's religions and celebrations, while at the same time being clear that while you love Grandma and Grandpa and are happy to be able to share their holiday celebrations with them, they are not your holidays.[/quote]

Kids will likely understand a simple explanation that certain observances are "real" to certain people, depending on their religion and unreal to others depending on what their parents have chosen to teach them.  Also, all kids seem to easily accept that Santa and the Easter Bunny are real just for a while, to young, gullible children, but that figures like Moses and Jesus, who do things like part the sea and rise from the dead, stay real even to grown ups.[/quote]

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