I'm late to this thread. Still, I want to share my experience as a mother. I have a seven year old and a one year old. This is regarding my oldest.
I'm raising my children to be free thinkers. There is nothing wrong with that and it's not brain washing. I'm simply saying if you're going to accept something, first you have to question it, study, research, investigate, and play with it.
My mother in law makes him pray before sleeping when he spends the night. She says he asked her (when he was six), "Why do I have to pray to the air?"
She said, "You're praying to God up in heaven."
He said, "No, it's the air. Nobody is listening and I can't hear anybody. All I see is air." He waved his arms around. He questioned it and tested it.
Later that week he said (after he lost his ipad and found it again)," Thank God that I found my ipad!"
I forgot to control myself and blurted out, "Why thank god? Your dad helped you find it."
He said, "Mom, you said I could believe anything I want."
I reminded him, "Yes, but I said you need to know why you believe in it. You need to have a good reason. You need to study it."
He said, "But, mom! If God doesn't exist, then where did we come from? You said we come from one mom and another mom and another mom and then there were other people that looked different. But, mom. Where did the first person ever come from? Where did the world come from?"
He's six when he said this. Granted if good ol' jstrodel asked this I would smack my face with a dildo in desperation that people assume that everything they don't understand means God did it. But my son was in kindergarten when he was asking questions, countering a position in an argument, and thinking. I was proud.
So, now he's seven. He lost a tooth a few weeks back and put his tooth under his pillow. My husband waited until he was asleep and put a five dollar bill under his pillow. Why the heck would I want to teach him to be skeptical, but allow this? Because he won't be put in risk of believing this forever and I have to pick my battles. So he wakes up and jumps up and down with his money. When his cousin is visiting he shares his story," Hey! Guess what! I lost a tooth! I put it under my pillow and when I woke up there was money there!"
Kid says, "The tooth fairy!"
My son drifts off. I thought he forgot about it and then I heard him saying, "Hey, dude. I think it was my mom. If a fairy was real she could make her own teeth. She wouldn't need mine." He had this look in his face with a smile that read, "Damn, I'm smart." And he is. I'm one proud momma.
I'm raising my children to be free thinkers. There is nothing wrong with that and it's not brain washing. I'm simply saying if you're going to accept something, first you have to question it, study, research, investigate, and play with it.
My mother in law makes him pray before sleeping when he spends the night. She says he asked her (when he was six), "Why do I have to pray to the air?"
She said, "You're praying to God up in heaven."
He said, "No, it's the air. Nobody is listening and I can't hear anybody. All I see is air." He waved his arms around. He questioned it and tested it.
Later that week he said (after he lost his ipad and found it again)," Thank God that I found my ipad!"
I forgot to control myself and blurted out, "Why thank god? Your dad helped you find it."
He said, "Mom, you said I could believe anything I want."
I reminded him, "Yes, but I said you need to know why you believe in it. You need to have a good reason. You need to study it."
He said, "But, mom! If God doesn't exist, then where did we come from? You said we come from one mom and another mom and another mom and then there were other people that looked different. But, mom. Where did the first person ever come from? Where did the world come from?"
He's six when he said this. Granted if good ol' jstrodel asked this I would smack my face with a dildo in desperation that people assume that everything they don't understand means God did it. But my son was in kindergarten when he was asking questions, countering a position in an argument, and thinking. I was proud.
So, now he's seven. He lost a tooth a few weeks back and put his tooth under his pillow. My husband waited until he was asleep and put a five dollar bill under his pillow. Why the heck would I want to teach him to be skeptical, but allow this? Because he won't be put in risk of believing this forever and I have to pick my battles. So he wakes up and jumps up and down with his money. When his cousin is visiting he shares his story," Hey! Guess what! I lost a tooth! I put it under my pillow and when I woke up there was money there!"
Kid says, "The tooth fairy!"
My son drifts off. I thought he forgot about it and then I heard him saying, "Hey, dude. I think it was my mom. If a fairy was real she could make her own teeth. She wouldn't need mine." He had this look in his face with a smile that read, "Damn, I'm smart." And he is. I'm one proud momma.
Pointing around: "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, you're cool, fuck you, I'm out!"
Half Baked
"Let the atheists come to me, and stop keeping them away, because the kingdom of heathens belongs to people like these." -Saint Bacon
Half Baked
"Let the atheists come to me, and stop keeping them away, because the kingdom of heathens belongs to people like these." -Saint Bacon
