The World's Religions

Sometimes as a parent, things sneak up on you. I try to stay on the ball, to be prepared for the next thing that might be coming down the pipe but sometimes I get caught by surprise. But never in my few short years as a parent have I been more surprised than I was the other day when my 3.5 year-old came to me shortly before dinner and asked me who God was.

I was totally shocked. Of all the things I was expecting to tackle with my older child this year, a theological conversation was not one of them. I am not a religious person; however, I don’t have a problem with religion and I certainly respect it. We don’t go to a church or say Grace or pray in our family. We don’t speak about God and because we don’t do any of those things I was really taken back when he asked me who God was.

My first reaction was defensiveness. For a fleeting moment some negative thoughts slipped through my brain. I felt mad for a moment and wondered who had put these thoughts into my kid’s head. And then immediately after that, as my 3 Year-old stared at me with his innocent eyes, I had a moment of complete and utter clarity and I answered his question truthfully and honestly.

He went on to tell me that Auntie (his Nanny who is a very close family friend who watches him 2 days a week when I work) says “Thank You God for This Food” before lunch and that it is called Grace. He asked me why we don’t say Grace before we eat. I explained that not everyone says Grace but that he was free to say it with Auntie if he liked and that though we don’t say Grace, we still feel very thankful for the food we eat each day.

He was like “ok Mommy”and ran off to play with his toys. For him it was just another little thought that had run through his head, but for me it was a life changing moment and it led to a deep conversation between my husband and I. We spoke about religion and how we felt about our kids being exposed to it. It did not end up being that difficult of a convo because Hubs and I both agreed on everything. We have no issue with our children being exposed to religion, we have no issue with them asking questions and we hope they can meet many people in their lives who are passionate and spiritual.

However, we both agreed that the one thing we are not ok with is them experiencing what we feel is the negative aspects of religion; the judgment, the hatred and the fear. You know the stuff that starts wars and causes death and sadness. It would be naive to think that they will never come across it but, until they are older and can make their own choices, I don’t want them to think that we are bad or that we are going to hell because we do not pray or go to Church. In other words, I don’t want them making choices motivated by fear and I don’t want them to think one religion is bad while another is good.

I expressed all those things to our Nanny the next morning and she was very open and understanding (as I knew she would be). I know she may not agree completely with our choice to raise our children without Christianity, but I know she respects me and my choices as a parent, just as I respect and value her choices to worship and be a Christian.

And how did I answer the question of who God is??? I stumbled a bit over that one because lets face it… it’s a bit heavy. I can’t even tell you exactly what I said but I can tell you this, if you have young kids and you haven’t thought about that question for a while… I suggest you do so because trust me when I say: The question is coming your way and likely sooner than you ever thought it would. In other words, get your theological ducks in a row yo.