If your 1.5 year old's play school opened each day with a 5 minute prayer time....
...to an unknown god, with a carved statue of an elephant goddess sitting in the corner of the room. We were assured little J can pray to whomever he wants. Somehow the suggestion didn't simply the solution for us.
Polytheism is tricky business for a monotheist, huh?
7 comments:
what did you do?
are you going in later?
um. girls. you're supposed to tell me what YOU would do. :)
I would read him the story of Noah's ark and let him point out all the animals on the page. When he gets to the elephants, tell him that the statue of the elephant is in his classroom to remind him that God made all the animals (including elephants). You can tackle the trickier polytheism stuff when he's a little older :)
Is this the drop off thing or stay? If you are sup. to drop off (or stay for that matter), I would wait with J until the prayer time is over. During that time, I would just take him apart from the group and face him away from the statue and pray to the real God - and like Ashley says do lots of explaining at other times etc.
You can agree with the polys that habit of prayer is good, but a you can send your message loud and clear without being too inhospitable. Let us know what you decide.
Can you drop him off five minutes late? Or stay with him through the prayer time?
He's definitely too young to understand the intricacies, but I think the time between sweet obliviousness and innocent understanding is very gray. I would want to set up a practice/habit for those situations that you won't need to change later.
Are there veteran members of your team, or in your area who might have insight?
By the way - thanks for your comment on my blog a few weeks ago, I really appreciate your encouragement, and hearing of God's kind care for your family through a similar circumstance.
i would drop him off late if it bothered me and if it didnt then id talk to him beforehand and stick him in there. He s gotta learn the difference. but if you are scared of the evil.... pray a hedge of protection around him.
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