God

[houseelf]

My three year old is having a difficult time grasping the concept of "God". Specifically, he doesn't understand why the monsters in his closet are make believe when God, who he also can not see, is real. I've tried to read the baby bibles and make him recite prayers (my personal favorite recitation of his night-night prayers: instead of "Soul to keep" it is "Soda keep".

I once explained that God is everywhere and resides in our heart. As a result, he got confused and now points to his tummy when I ask him about God. When he was smaller, a nun in full habit offered a prayer for him and he freaked out screaming "NO!" when she recited "in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost". I think that her habit put him over the edge.

Without getting into a huge liturgical and personal debate on our collective religious beliefs, I'm interested in how you all explain this otherwise nebulous concept. Right now he is as convinced as Karl Marx.

Kelly

[mommax3]

Isn't it weird how raising children makes us contemplate aspects of theology that we never considered before? I totally know where you are coming from, and while we still grapple with religious issues on an almost daily basis, I will tell you what we have done and are doing. This is based on our beliefs, so please don't be offended (anyone) if they don't match up with yours.

We started out with Jesus and told/read Bible stories (children's versions) that featured Him and had the boys pray to Him as well. Then we introduced that His Father, who lives in Heaven (and yes, there were lots of questions at this point) was God, and that He made the world and everything in it and always has been around and knows everything, etc., etc..... At some point, the boys have gotten the concept that God is unlike any other thing and bigger than anything, and the requests for explanations about HIM have dried up a little ---- however, that leaves plenty of questions about religion that are still fair game.

You might look at Amazon or a christian bookstore in your area and see what they have for kids. There are some really great books out there. Max Lucado has written some children's books (he mostly writes for adults) that are basically analogies for who God is in a child's life. They are very good, sweet books, with neat illustrations.

I would have to say that the churches we have attended have been a great help to us in our kids' religious education. The Veggie Tales videos have been helpful, too --- do you have any? They totally crack me up, but they communicate some basic truths in very creative ways.

Okay, probably way too much information --- sorry! It is an important topic and I hope you get some helpful advice.

Sally

Kelly, I can totally relate as we have a 3yo yo deal with as well!!

He is constantly "praying" to God to tell us not to be mad at him when he has done something that was against the rules. Somewhat a "get out of jail free card".

Anyway, know what you are going through, and have been treading the same waters and trying to not just confuse the poor kid to much!!

This is a tricky thing with a three year old, isn't it? They have such active imaginations that anything can seem real and at the same time they are starting to get a grip on logic and critical thinking. And along comes tricky subjects like God.
I don't think it is uncommon for children to think of God in their tummies -- it is a central part of their body. But funny!

I don't have any great advice as we are muddling through similar issues. But, maybe you want to change your angle on the whole monster thing. We have had several monsters take up residence in Bryn's room. We started out denying their existence -- nope, no such thing, don't see a monster here, etc. The problem is that the monsters are VERY real to Bryn. We have had better luck with pretending the monsters are in her room and working it out that way. So, some days it is a friendly monster who just wants to play with her toys but keeps waking her up at night. So, we go in her room, stick our head in the closet, and have a firm but polite chat about playing too loud with the monster. Mean monsters are immediately sent packing. You can also try an empty squirter bottle full of "monkey spray" to spray around the room at night. Perhaps by acknowledging the monsters it will help to acknowledge the other things we can't see?