Sunday, February 1, 2009

Explaining Death

I have to remove all of the childrens' Bibles from my daughter's room. I know that sounds a bit strange and extreme, but what I didn't realize when I gave them to her was that they are quite graphic about battle, death, murder and The Crucifixion. Not a very good thing when my baby is afraid of death, even at her very young age of four. She's also afraid of growing old.

On the way to school the other day my daughter saw a plane in the sky and said "Look Mom, that plane is flying so high! Is it going to Heaven?" I said that it couldn't go as high as Heaven. She then asked if dying was bad. I said no, and explained that death is a part of life. That Jesus loves her and will one day call her home to be with him in Heaven.

Then she asked if she will have nails in her hands when she dies. Yeeesh! How does one explain to a little girl that crucifixion is no longer practiced. That she does not have to worry about such things. And, yes ... everyone dies.

It's moments like these that make it very difficult to be a parent sometimes.

3 comments:

PeePaw said...

Yikes! I don't remember you or R or L asking such profound questions.

Lindsay said...

That's a really tough one.

Her comment about Heaven reminded me that I used to think Alaska was in Heaven. Good times. :)

Kelly said...

Yeah, she is amazingly wise beyond her years sometimes. She is so sensitive too. It all scares me a little.

Lindsay, isn't Alaska too cold to be Heaven? I mean I would have expected it to be a little warmer than that at least! :)