The kids discovered what the Easter Bunny left. And Bebe Sister had her very first egg hunt. No one even had to tell her what to do! She was off and hunting.
After all this fun we sat down for some breakfast and revisited a topic from T Rex's allergy appointment. We like to keep this a fairly secular blog, but I will make an exception because of the Easter holiday.
While we were at the allergy appointment, we stopped to visit the office fish tank. They had recently restocked the tank and some of the fish did not fare well - meaning they died. I am honest with my kids about such things. I told T Rex those fish had died. One of the nurses interjected and stated, "Oh, it's alright, they just went to sleep." I was a little upset by this. I do not like telling children dead things are "just sleeping". Then they are terrified that when they go to sleep they won't wake up.
So, we walked away and I explained that the fish were not sleeping but had died. We chatted about death and what happens to people when they die. I left it at that. Then, we revisited the topic at morning breakfast on Easter. I thought the topic appropriate. We read the Biblical story of Jesus' Ressurection with age appropriate photos and used the story to tie everything together. It was a touching teaching moment. Then T Rex asked if we could read about Brother Noah again. (He's just a little obsessed with the Noah song by Raffi and the accompanying story about the ark.)
And that was our Easter morning.
What was yours like? How do you explain death to your child or how do you plan to explain it? Is there a particular age you think this topic is best received?
14 comments:
Their pajamas are so cute! I'm glad that you had a great Easter.
To be honest, my "explaining death" lesson for my kids is kind of ongoing. I do it here and there and I try to tie Heaven into it, but I'm not sure how much the younger ones especially understand about what I'm teaching them. My parents really didn't explain much to me about death. I remember having to figure it out more after my grandmas died at 12. When my father died, my 2 boys are the time were 2 and 15 months. They really didn't have a sense at all about what was happening. I do worry now about their reaction when someone else dies near us. My oldest son has had to comprehend the difficult fact of friends' parents die at a young age. I think it has made him nervous about mortality in general. I try to reassure about everlasting life, but it's hard for kids to process it all. I guess with maturity and faith, they will grow in that understanding.
It sounds like a great Easter morning. Ours was likely about the same. I haven't explained death to Deaglan. I've gauged his level of understanding and don't feel that it's necessary just yet. I think you as a parent know what your child will understand. It's too big of a topic for me these days and it's not something I want to go into with him yet. We love Who Built the ARk too.
This was the girls second Eaters, but their first official egg hunt. We had so much fun and it looks like your little ones did as well.
We had a FHE lessons last Monday from the Nursery manual. It was very specific in having you tell the children that Jesus died and that his friends were sad. In other words you can never go wrong when it's comes to church material :)
Glad you had a fantastic Easter.
You're right about kids being scared to go to sleep if they think they might not wake up, I never thought about it like that.
I am probably not the one to ask about having the talk with your kids about death. All of those topics are kind of ongoing in my house. I've had to explain some pretty crazy comments to people. I think each kid and family is different. As far as your kids...they're adorable! Glad your Easter was great.
Adorable pictures! I love baby sister's Peanuts jammies- I saw some like them online a few weeks ago and was so tempted to buy them for you! Glad I didn't ;)
I tell Joseph that things are dead, but when pressed I just say that they aren't alive anymore and that seems to be the end of that for now. Now that he goes to Sunday school, we do have plenty of talks about heaven and Jesus dying for us etc. But really, he is not as curious as you might think. Too distracted by super heroes?
I am so torn. I LOVE things like Egg Hunts and little presents and games... but we are really cautious about introducing "secular" activities into our religious observances. NOT that we really have a problem with it per se, but we're kinda at a loss for how to make our children not put the focus on that rather than the "reason for the season" - I think I need to find a way to include the fun activities without detracting from the spiritual meaning... So this year we just sat Easter out pretty much. He got a few presents from family members, which we're totally okay with... I think this is something that kind of blindsided us as parents b/c we never had to think about it much before... but now we know as he gets older he'll want to participate in all the fun and we either have to find a way to balance it with our faith, or explain why we don't do it in a way that doesn't make faith seem like a kill joy... :) Still working on this one ...
And that was my explanation of MY Easter! Yours looked amazing and fun! Definitely love the pjs. :)
I am not sure how I'll explain death to my children. My plan is to be honest, but not brutal and to share the hope we find in the Bible for the afterlife!
The first time my children really understood death was more than just a word was when they lost their pet cat about three years ago. It was a long week filled with grief with the realization that she wasn't coming back or "pretending to sleep". But it gave us an opportunity to touch on "what happens next".
I am very honest with my children. They know I don't know what happens next- nobody does. But people have faith in different things, and faith is strong. We talked about as many different religious beliefs as we could think of, and what those religions believe happen in the afterlife or what not.
Whatever my children choose for their religion or belief system, I know I will find great pleasure in witnessing their "ah ha" moment. The moment when they feel like God is present, or that they have figured something out. I don't feel like it's something I can just give them, it's something that is best appreciated and meaningful when sought after, and each experience is beautiful and meant for only that person.
And with that- I appreciate your beautiful moment with your son, and how you chose to respond.
And your Easter looked wonderful! Ours was too!
Very cute photos. My kids are 12, almost 10 and 7 so Easter at my house is over in less than 10 minutes unless the Bunny has found exceptionally difficult hiding places for their baskets. I almost missed the entire thing. LOL As for death, that is a tough subject to talk about but I think it is important. Don't tie it to age, because sometimes age doesn't play a part and everyone seems really old to a five year old. The important thing to remember is that kids are very accepting. If you stress that death is part of life, they will be open to your perceptions. Good luck
Oh they look like they had a great Easter!
But I am with you, kids develop enough fears without me contributing a fear of going to sleep. I think kids are a lot smarter and understand a lot more than people give them credit for.
What a wonderful teaching moment!
I'm with you...I think it is best to be honest and talk to them about death openly but in an age appropriate way. Sadly, my son has had to learn too much about death so young with my losing my parents in the last few years. But I found him pretty able to accept the idea when presented to him...though I like to tell him that I think we will get to see them again someday.
Love the Noah's Ark Raffi son :)
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