knows about Easter? Clearly he knows about the Easter Bunny at the mall and Easter Egg Hunts, the kid loves those eggs! But I don't know that Graham has any idea of how Jesus fits into Easter. And exactly how as I supposed to explain it? For Christmas we got a 'touchy-feely' book that talks all about Mary and Joseph and the birth of baby Jesus, the whole nine yards, but to my knowledge, there is no such book for Easter. This is probably intentional, as telling kids to touch the thorns on Jesus' head in order to learn about something 'scratchy' is maybe not exactly the right teaching tool.So when is a good age to explain the true meaning of Easter? I think the answer everyone wants to give is, right from birth... kids should know that Jesus dies for us to take away our sins. And this is true, they should know that, but to really explain that the reason we celebrate Easter is Jesus died on a cross and 3 days later he rose again with the living and now is in Heaven with God... that's just a huge concept for a kid to grasp. It's even a huge concept for adults to grasp! So do I just go on letting Graham have fun with the Easter Bunny side of Easter until he is a little bigger and maybe old enough to understand? Or is there really a good way of telling little kids about the true meaning of Easter?
It is a huge concept. We've just introduced Jesus through stories to Julia and talked to her about who he is and what he has done for us. We haven't talked at all about Easter. She's doesn't even know it exists as a holiday. Our plan is to talk to the girls about Easter, but in very easy, childlike way until they are older.
ReplyDeleteHey Kate! I was JUST thinking about this. No 3 year old needs to learn about the passion... not yet anyway. There are still some things that I need to edit and that's one of them. But, we did start with learning more about Easter by starting with Good Friday.
ReplyDeleteI was talking about "this is the day that Jesus died." No thorns, no spears, no pain and torment, just "died on the cross". So I told Luke that he died today and it is a sad day. But on Sunday when the Easter bunny comes, that's the day that Jesus flew up to heaven like a butterfly. And bunnies hopped around and everyone wore pretty dresses and bright colors and that's why we celebrate Easter....
So I hope that helps. But, keep in mind I had this conversation with a 5 year old, not Grace. For now, she can just listen for for the Easter bunny.
Thanks Annie! I really like the story about Good Friday and Jesus flying into Heaven... especially liked how your incoropated bunnies, as I was trying to figure out how I was going to explain where that came from :) I agree that no 2 or 3 year old needs to know about the Passion quite yet and I really don't think that Graham will have any concept even if I do tell him about all this now. But remind me to refer back to this next year and we'll see if we are ready then :) I hope you and you family have a wonderful Easter!
ReplyDeleteTake care!