There’s something about the car that prompts The Boo (not his real name) to tell me things. Not secrets, exactly, but the interesting things that lurk beyond “Can Kyle come over?” and “I had Spanish today.”
A few weeks ago, it was this: “Mama, did you know that Jesus was born on Christmas and died on Easter?”
Wow.
“Well, um, that’s part of the story, honey. Where did you learn that?”
“Penelope (not her real name) told me. She’s in PSR.”
For the uninitiated, PSR stands for Parish School of Religion. Penelope is learning about Catholicism — and sharing her newfound knowledge with her friends. Which is fine — I’m all for kids learning about religion, and I’d been planning to introduce our kid to the major religions. Just not this soon.
No time like the present, right? I addressed the inaccuracies in The Boo’s understanding of the life of Jesus as best I could (I’m agnostic, but I have basic knowledge of the major religions). I also made a short speech on freedom of worship for good measure. Then I made a mental note to research comparative religion books for kids.
I got a recommendation from a friend, and looked at the library next time we were there. When we asked for kids’ books on religion, we were guided to a shelf of titles about Christian faiths, with a few books on Judaism and Islam sprinkled in. Not exactly what I was looking for. So I reserved a few online; the one above is the winner so far, for the simplicity, clarity, and inclusion of six major faiths.
Doesn’t cover how Wiccans or First Peoples worship, though. Guess that’s in the sequel.
Mama-Come-Lately 
Leave a Reply