There are A LOT of topics that are not easy to explain to your kids - death, homelessness, natural disasters, war, etc. But, as parents, it's our duty to help our kids understand things that we may struggle to understand ourselves. With Easter approaching, I wanted to help Grace, my almost four year old, to understand what we're celebrating. I wanted her to know that it's not just about Easter egg hunts, coloring eggs, and a visit from the Easter Bunny. As I set out to teach her about the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus, I realized that explaining these events so that she could understand them would be a huge challenge.
I got a storybook that I thought would help, and it did, although I had to answer questions along the way about things she saw and heard in the story. Here are a few examples of our interactions the last few weeks:
- When looking at a picture of Jesus with a crown of thorns on his head, "Mommy, that looks like it hurts."
- When we read about Simon helping Jesus carry the cross, Grace responded, "Simon? Like the Chipmunk?"
- After finishing the story, as I was asking questions about what we celebrate on Easter to see if she understood, Grace answered, "Jesus died on the cross." I replied, "Very good. And what happened next?" Grace's answer: "He didn't have a shirt on, and I could see his nipples."
