How do you explain the Adam and Eve/evolution thing to your kids?

Re: How do you explain religion to your kids?

Well 60 percent of Americans believe life developed over time.
And 74 percent believe in god.
So by extension, most Americans believe in intelligent design.

Maybe you should explain the deist watchmaker analogy to him.

 

Re: How do you explain religion to your kids?

I don't believe that.

 

Re: How do you explain religion to your kids?

You know, children don't have to believe what their parents believe.

 

Re: How do you explain religion to your kids?

You don't get to BELIEVE in science. It just ... is.

Intelligent design is not a valid theory, and I'm not going to explain it like it is one.

 

Re: How do you explain religion to your kids?

" I'm going to take a stab at explaining the concept of mythology and allegory to him"

Seriously to a 4 year old? I just had to refresh myself on what allegory meant.

If you had a concern about this you should have never sent your kid to Catholic school. Since you
were raised Catholic you knew what he would be getting into. Those stories are magical to
kids in the way teachers tell them. It's going to be hard to unwind.

You're a paying customer. Maybe you can get school not to teach the Adam and Eve story.
Organize a bunch of families. Maybe there are some parents named Adam and Eve that
you can get involved.

You really need to teach him about "White Jesus"

 

Re: How do you explain religion to your kids?

I didn't know he'd be as into evolution as he is.

Also: The Catholic church supports evolution. Church doctrine isn't an issue.

Some of it also comes down to what 93Devil said in a couple of places. Religion can be beneficial because, particularly in the New Testament, there are a lot of lessons on how to live that are very beneficial when put into practice. And, as he said, involvement in a church puts you in contact, frequently, with a social community of pleasant people. My son has developed friendships there the last four years, and it will be heartbreaking to pull him from them in the fall.

At the same time, there is no manual for parenting. When he was 1 years old and he began day care, it barely occurred to me that, hey, they might teach things there that directly contradict science he has already been introduced to at that time. And, as I think I've noted, they still haven't. In fact, they may not end up doing so.

It's not really easy on kids when they are getting contradictory messages from adults they trust. We're telling him one thing about death. Then he hears another thing from school. Truly, I think we've handled it with aplomb to this point. And I think he benefits from being exposed to different schools of thought, and reconciling them.

In the end, if Adam and Eve come up, we'll dicuss the nature of myths, and he'll be better off for it.

Really, I was just curious how others have dealt with some of these things, just because I'm curious.

 

Re: How do you explain religion to your kids?

You know what the problem is -parents. I went to catholic grade school in the 60's.
Heard all the stories in rhyme and verse. Even acted them out in little plays.

My parents were not concerned about the conflict between the bible and evolution. No one was.
I was not even aware of it or at least made the connection. Nowadays it's become another BS
controversy where instead of letting kids reason things out on their own, adults want to manipulate
the kids thinking to their own beliefs.

It's a lot better for the kid when he realizes on his own that the immaculate reception was possible
but the immaculate conception was biologically impossible without Joseph dropping some
seed in Mary. Critical thinking skills and intuitive reasoning.

 

Re: How do you explain religion to your kids?

Except:

http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/Asian-countries-top-OECD-s-latest-PISA-survey-on-state-of-global-education.htm

Science
Shanghai-China, Hong Kong-China, Singapore, Japan and Finland are the top five performers in science in PISA 2012. Estonia, Korea, Viet Nam, Poland, Canada, Liechtenstein, Germany, Chinese Taipei, the Netherlands, Ireland, Australia, Macao-China, New Zealand, Switzerland, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic and Belgium score above the OECD average in science.

Anyone missing there?

 

Re: How do you explain religion to your kids?

If we are not supposed to distinguish between the Bible and history/nonfiction, and let them sort it out themselves without guidance, does this follow for all stories and books?

"Mouse and the Motocycle"?

Figure it out.

"The Day the Crayons Quit"?

Can crayons really write letters and walk off the job? You figure it out.

"If You Give a Pig a Pancake"?

Might be true, might not. You're on your own.

 

Re: How do you explain religion to your kids?

You know your son is 4, right?

 

Re: How do you explain religion to your kids?

Dude, he flat-out asks if stories are "real" or "fairy tales."

"Is Picasso real?"

"Is Mousetronaut real?"

"Is George Washington real?"

Kid starves for context, what can I say?

 

Re: How do you explain religion to your kids?

THEN WHY THE FUCK IS YOUR KID IN CATHOLIC SCHOOL?

You do realize your kid is in the one place where they will be taught creationism over evolution? They'll probably also learn that homosexuality is a sin.