Talking To Your Children About Religion; A Tale

Talking with your children about religion can be a challenge in any household but it is especially hard to do so when two parents come from different belief systems.

My husband is Christian, and I was raised with a mix of Native American and aging hippie views. Even back in the early days of our relationship, we agreed that when the time came and we had children, we would expose them to different religions. Furthermore, my theory was that showing them diversity from a young age would make them less judgmental of any relgion as they got older.

We agreed that whenever an oppertunity organically arose, we would broach the subject of beliefs.

As with most things having do with parenting, things don’t usually pan out in the same way that you may imagine them.

Before bed one night, our three-year-old started asking questions. My husband saw an opportunity to talk to her about his views on religion.

“Well,” He began. “I believe in God. God lives up in the sky. He looks down on us and watches and protects us.”

“He’s in the sky?” asked Little P.

“Yes, God is in the sky,” said my husband confidently.

I listened at the door for a few minutes, smiling, as he told her stories about his own childhood experiences with God. Our daughter sat patiently, soaking everything in.

He emerged from her room 20 minutes later, looking defeated.

“How did it go?” I asked.

“I thought it was going really well. I told her all about God. She asked questions, I answered. I thought I was really getting through to her. She seemed really into it.”

“That’s great, honey!” I said, patting him on the back.

“Well, it was going great. And then I tucked her into bed, kissed her goodnight and as I’m walking out of the room I hear her shout, ‘Goodnight Bob!’ and she started waving at the ceiling.”

“So that whole time she thought you were talking about a guy in the sky named Bob?”

“Yup,” Said my husband.