Friday, December 08, 2006

How do you solve a problem like Little Z?











For 2-3 years now, Little Z has been taking an increasing interest in God. As we do not go to church ourselves and do not consider ourselves religious, she must have decided this based on her experiences of Religious Education at school. She does not go to a C of E school, but the school is very proud of its RE syllabus and does put quite a strong emphasis on teaching Children about Christianity.

I have always believed that children need to make their own decisions about their beliefs and not have their parents' (or anyone elses for that matter) beliefs thrust upon them. For that reason, I have not had either of my children Christened, particularly as I do not go to church and am not willing to stand in a house of God with a new baby promising to bring them up in the way of the Church, when I have no intention of doing so. I appreciate that many people get their babies Christened because of pressure from their families. It is not my place to condemn them. I am simply saying that I decided not to do it because I don't think it is right.

I have digressed somewhat from my point. Little Z has told me she is a Christian on many occasions since starting school. I have been to see her teacher to discuss their RE syllabus and actually, I am quite happy that they are not telling the children what they believe. She now tells me she has decided to become a nun. When someone asked her, "Do you even know what a nun is?", she replied, "Yes, I am going to give my life to God." Wow.

So, how does this happen? My Church-going friends say it is a calling from God. My Atheist friends say it is a phase and she has probably watched "The Sound of Music" too often.

God bless you!

3 comments:

Sarah said...

hehe, that made me giggle out loud!

you're a good writer, you know...

is she going to donate all her christmas presents toa good cause then? or would that be going a step too far....

we have a family friend who's a nun - she spends her days looking after chickens and old nuns. i'm definitely not cut out for nun-age, that'd drive me crazy!

xx

Karate Jim said...

She will be keeping all of her presents, (although many of last years will be given to charity - probably without her realising). However, I must say that she did offer to give one of her advent calendars away as she was given 3 this year and said that she would like to give one to a poor child who doesn't get any. I certainly have a daughter to be proud of.

Anonymous said...

Wow. It was quite inspiring before Christmas when I we had a week of 'Every Child Matters at CHristmas' activities, one of which involved thinking about how poorer children around the world will be feeling around CHristmas time. One girl said she would like to swap places with a poor child in say an African country as she feels she would be more appreciative of the little they have there, than she is here with the overwhelming materialism we have. I thought that was very grown-up and inspiring!

Mel x