Papa: What does the Passover mean? What was passing over?
Child: Hmmmmmm?????? (no clue)
Mama: Does it mean the airplanes were "passing over" the houses? (I know ... totally random ... but I try to be funny now and then.)
Child: I do not know.
Mama: Were there airplanes in Bible Times?
Child: I do not know. I have not been there.
I think this goes along with the question from a few months ago: Are we living in Old Testament or New Testament times? (Remember, Rachel also wanted to give Jesus a pair of shoes for Christmas.) When you have children that do not understand time and distance, I think that they just think that Jesus lives somewhere else in the world, especially since Jeremiah lives in the dessert and he saw Aaron's Grave ... maybe they think Jeremiah is wandering the dessert with Moses. Oh dear!
This evening I realized that one of our children's favorite activities is probably adding to the confusion. For the past 20 years, all of our children have LOVED the Adventures in Odessey stories on CD (okay, we used to own about 100 of their cassette tapes ... yes, we are old). In this series of stories, the children can travel back in time and become a part of Bible Stories. Since our children have a difficult time understanding make-believe, I truly think that if Donna and Karen and all of the kids in Odessey can go walk with Moses, than it must just be in another part of the world that they haven't yet traveled to. Oh my!
Some days, we just don't know how to help them to understand concepts. They've been home almost a year ... any suggestions on learning these most difficult concepts of time and distance. Yes, we have maps and globes and calendars ... they have 3 siblings living around the world, so they understand that the world is very big, which make it even more plausible that Jesus must just not live in America.
Hmmm, maybe make a looooong timeline? You could put Bible events and more modern historical events. Maybe they could even each make one for their lives. That might make it more visual and easier to understand.
ReplyDeleteI have had a lot of the same issues with ours from Africa. It has gotten better over time. Some of the things we tried.
ReplyDelete1-consitantly asking them if what they are watching, hearing or reading is real or pretend?
2-If it is real, when did it happen?
3-If it is pretend, why is it pretend? and could it happen?
When we started with these questions, we had to "help" them a lot. Now they seem to get it. They have been home from Liberia for 3 years