We've had some interesting discussions with Caleb recently. It started with explaining why Crystal (the dog) wasn't at Grandpa and Grandma's house. We told him Crystal was really old and really sick so she died. After him repeatedly asking "Why did she die?" and having to give the same previous answer, he asked "Is she going to be raised from the dead?" Apparently he has been paying attention to his Bible stories about Jesus raising people from the dead. How to answer that question? We just said, "No, she is in heaven and is alive there." He then asked, "Is she barking at Jesus in heaven?" I got a good laugh and said, "Yes, she probably is!"Some people have been giving us a hard time about saying there are animals in heaven, but I figure God can explain whether there are animals in heaven or not when Caleb gets there.:) We then had the death discussion again when Caleb saw a dead skunk on the road. I then had to answer 100 questions about how did the skunk die and why did he die.
Another interesting discussion with Caleb dealt with Jesus coming back from heaven. Nate read him the story in his preschoolers Bible about Jesus coming down from heaven and taking us to heaven to live with Him. That freaked Caleb out! First he said, "I don't want Jesus to come, I like living here in my house!" Then for the next couple days he asked, "Is Jesus coming after supper, Is he coming tonight, Is he coming tomorrow?" How do you answer that one?! Technically, we don't know when Jesus will come back and it could be at anytime- but that is not something Caleb understands and it just stresses him out.:) So we told him no.
Has anyone had similar discussions with young children? Any good input on how to explain topics like these?
1 comment:
That's a hard one...I just think their brains can't quite grasp the ideas. M has been talking a lot about getting old and not wanting to die. She also is starting to understand that Jesus died for her, but doesn't quite get it all. I think it can be a bit scary but they eventually get it! I remember being scared of Jesus comming again when I was little. I think little kids just like order and knowing what is happening. We can't tell them when Jesus is comming exactly so they get scared. Good luck. Your doing a great job as a mom!
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