Atheist parents... (1 Viewer)

[GARYXKNIFEDX]

Someone else will probably have explained something to the kid first. How you convince them that "no,clouds are not dead people/dogs" is where I'm at .

For the time being I just say,"is that right?"

 

[shower another shower]

heaven, the sun, the rest of the universe...nothing...what eva.
don''t matter how you explain it to a 3 year old. they're gonna have their own ideas soon enough any way.
don't worry death, and enjoy your life as much as we can comprehend it.

 

[Diumraid]

Non-being is inconceivable to a being. The matter-of-fact approach is an intellectual conceit, much like conceptions of paradise - the horror will seep through inevitably. I'm pretty matter-of-fact about death when talking with Isobel but conscious of the mystery all the same.

 

[Carlow Punks!]

I told her dead people turn into ghosts that hide under childrens' beds waiting to eat them when they fall asleep.
She seemed to buy that one. She hasn't slept for 62 days.

Feel free to use thus explanation if you want.

 

[Buckrake]

Thanks everyone. Next time she asks, I'll show her this thread.

 

[egg_]

Isabelle: "What's heaven?"

My ma: "Well, after you die your spirit leaves your body and you go to a special place to be with god"

Isabelle: "Oh right. I thought heaven was like a kind of grave"

 

[mark]

just rep'ed you egg_ but it's actually for isabelle, so be sure to pas it on.

 

[ann post]

Isabelle: "What's heaven?"

My ma: "Well, after you die your spirit leaves your body and you go to a special place to be with god"

Isabelle: "Oh right. I thought heaven was like a kind of grave"

well that was only a matter of time.

 

[coraline]

[SIZE=+1]Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)[/SIZE] Spring and Fall:
to a Young Child
Margaret, are you grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leaves, like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! as the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you will weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sorrow's springs are the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What héart héard of, ghóst guéssed:
It is the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

 

[pissypants]

I'm not a parent, but this is how an atheist friend of mine handled it with his 5 year old (we'll call him John).

He acknowledged that some day every living thing will die, and that nobody knows what happens after we die. But he stressed that that's what makes being alive so special. He told John that both his parents would probably be alive even when John was 40 or 50 years old, and by that stage john would have his own wife and children and so he wouldn't be scared or lonely.

 

[the bearded lady]

My older daughter has asked me about this too, aged around 4 was the first time. there is a REAL easy way of explaining it with no bullshit. i showed her her pet kitten, and then i strangled it in front of her, and then i showed it to her dead. she seemed to get the picture quick enough.

really though, i was caught unawares by her and just came straight out with the truth. children know when they are being lied to most times. i told her ALL living things have a lifespan etc. and they ALL must come to an end because if they didn't wouldn't the world be a very very busy noisy place with all the people who never die still here, and stuff like that. tell them the truth but not making it sound to serious. of course none of us have any concept of our own death, but that's part of what keeps us evolving.
i'm sure like me most of the important information you sought in your childhood was either left unanswered or just fobbed off with makebelieve (ie. any and all religious belief) or lies. lets try and break this particular retarded cycle.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

Show the kids this, it's great:

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[egg_]

My older daughter has asked me about this too, aged around 4 was the first time. there is a REAL easy way of explaining it with no bullshit. i showed her her pet kitten, and then i strangled it in front of her, and then i showed it to her dead. she seemed to get the picture quick enough.

I missed you dude

I had a very long dream last night in which I, after a day of torture in hell, mused on the fact that this would be the kind of day I would be having from now on FOREVER. Then I met Satan himself. He seemed pretty sound