I just finished giving Miss M a bath, and I am simply shaking my head. What started as a simple conversation quickly went out of my league and left me wondering how in the world we ended up talking about Hitler. Here's kind of how it went ...
Me: Do you remember those pretty shells that you collected with your cousins? (on Juno and Omaha Beaches in Normandy)
Miss M: Yes, Mommy.
Me: I need to buy some more of those glass bottles (holding the shells) for your cousins.
Miss M: Why?
Me: Well, do you remember that they collected some sand from the beach where you collected those shells? (specifically Omaha Beach)
Miss M: Yes.
Me: Well, I want to get them special French bottles to put that special sand in.
Miss M: Why did they collect that sand?
Me: It is from a special beach and they wanted to have some to remember.
Miss M: WHy is it special sand? What do my cousins want to remember?
(Here is where I ought to have said "Our time together." But I didn't)
Me: There were some very brave me who walked on that beach and your cousins want to remember them.
Miss M: Why? Why did they walk on that beach?
Me: Well, there was a very bad man who wanted to be in charge of the world, and these brave men wanted to tell him that he couldn't do that.
Miss M: So they walked on the beach?
Me: Well, they did more than that. They fought a war on this beach (digging myself in deep here) to stop the bad man.
Miss M: Why did this man want to be in charge? Why was that bad?
Me (thinking "how do I explain freedom?"): He didn't want us to have churches or worship God.
Miss M: That's bad! We have to worship God. I worship God everyday, and pray to God sometimes.
Me: That is a very good thing.
Miss M: I'm glad that the brave men walked on the beach and stopped the bad man. God is the only one who can be in charge.
Well said my dear. I was so proud that she understands how important that God is, and I am so relieved that she didn't get bogged down in my inept explanation of the importance of the D-Day Beaches. As an adult, I have a hard enough time understanding what happened during that war. I was certainly uncomfortable trying to explain it to my 5-year-old. But I am glad that she asked "Why."
5 comments:
I have a horrible time trying to explain that one too. It sounds like you did a pretty good job.
Way to handle a tough subject!
You did a fantastic job explaining it too. I don't know that I could have done as well.
Thank you for taking the time to teach your children about two very important topics--the worship of God and the sacrifice of Soldiers. With parent's like you, we have a wonderful future ahead! Thank you again for this post.
I think I'm one of those crazy moms who would welcome the big questions. It must be the former teacher in me. You did a very good job handling that, because that's a tough question. Even more so, she did a good job of discussing it with you. She seems very mature.
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