My 4 year old son starts asking about death

by Zana 5 Replies latest social family

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  Zana

  My wife is a moderate JW, me I am agnostic. She can "offer" eternal life on earth, which is difficult to top. First I told him, that there is actually no proof for what his mother tells him. And that many different people (me, his grandma, his muslim friends) believe many different things about what happens after we die. But nobody can prove it. I think he gets that. But if it is a question of belief, he might think of choosing to believe the most attractive option. My son wishes he will never die. I can tell him things like there won't be enough space on the planet, if people keep having babies. Or that although we die, we keep on living in the memories of the people whe cared about us. But that's just dry bread compared to all the sugar and cream his mother can offer him.

  Any suggestions what else I could tell him?
  
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  Simon

  Just let him watch cartoons.

  Seriously, lots of movies introduce "sad" concepts like loss of loved ones that can lay the groundwork for future discussion by being a frame-of-reference.

  You don't want to be laying anything heavy on a 4 year old.
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  Giordano

  I think you owe your child a happy childhood free of any religious BS especially by the child's mother. You need to make it clear that your son is not going to be raised in a death cult a religion that is looking forward to the death of 99% of the entire population.

  There is also an active conversation on this site detailing what a miserable failure the JW's are in protecting their children from Child Molesters within the ranks of the congregations:

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/6276815245017088/australian-royal-commission-findings-released
  
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  LoveUniHateExams

  I agree with Simon's post - tell him he's only four years old and he's got his whole life ahead of him.

  This means you can then go on to talk to him about his hobbies, perhaps about going to school, growing up, which TV programs he likes to watch, etc.
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  Zana

  Giordano, I know I know, very interesting and important topic. But very off-topic here.

  Also I don't plan on forbidding my wife to tell him anything about their religion. I do however object to some topics like talk about armageddon and how non-jws will all be killed then.

  Simon, I don't want to, but he himself started the conversation repeatedly. I rather talk about it then instead of changing the topic or just divert his attention to something else. Of course I don't plan on giving him an hour-long lecture either.

  I would just like to get some ideas how other atheist or agnostic parents talk to their kids about death.
  
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  Xanthippe

  My daughter wanted to talk about death when she was three or four. I just remember telling her people go to sleep and don't wake up. I agree with you we don't have any proof what happens either way. She seemed ok with that one chat and didn't raise the subject again so maybe your son won't. I don't know what she believes now she's twenty but that's her business.

  The next thing when he's about five will be questions about God. Fun isn't it 😄