Teach your child about God. Now.

READ THE TITLE of this post again. I’m really serious. The question is: how? Well, my late mother provides part of the answer.

The story she used to tell me, and presumably my siblings as well, is that the first words she ever said in our presence (which means, once each of us were born), was “I love you.” Now my wife and I didn’t think to say that during the first moments of our daughter’s life, but it’s something I say to her most every time she’s cooperatively settling down to sleep (naps or bedtime). I believe she understands.

I also believe our daughter has her own way of telling me the same thing. Have you been lucky enough to have your 7-plus-month-old just beam at you with a slightly dopey ear-to-ear grin, gazing intently at you all the while, as if to say, “I’m deliriously happy just now, and I’m so glad to be your little baby.” Which for me translates into “I love you, daddy.” How you elicit this is your own business, you know what delights your kid by now. It seems to me that that’s a way of, at least, introducing the love that is God to a child.

Of course, once your child is verbal, it will become more complicated. This is an idea that occurs to me: at the moment (hopefully convenient) that a child first asks, “Who is God?”, try this (I suppose a child of three or four might handle their end of the conversation):

You: “God is not a person, sweetheart.”

Child: “No?”

You: God is something else.

C: What?

Y: What happens inside you when we’re together playing, smiling and laughing, and I tell you I love you very much?

(It may take a few tries to elicit the sensible response, but what we’re after is as follows)

C: I feel happy.

Y: That’s right! Where does that happy feeling come from?

C: From you?

Y: Not exactly. I’m just in charge of the playing, smiling, and laughing. God is where the happiness comes from. You don’t have to be playing with me to be happy, you can be happy all by yourself, can’t you?

C: Yes, but with you, it’s more.

Y: That’s very sweet, honey. But I believe all happiness is really a gift from God, because when you’re happy you know God loves you, too, and you feel it deep inside. Happiness is a way of feeling that everything is okay, and that God is taking care of us. I think you feel that very often, and we’re very blessed that you’re happy. God is not a person, but the spirit all people associate with goodness, happiness, and the love you feel.

The conversation above is entirely out of my imagination, but I hope I can actually carry it on someday soon.

Blogging for Life

A BRIEF INTERRUPTION of the stream-of-consciousness: If this blog inspires, interests, or entertains, please consider supporting it by sharing the URL (until ads get placed somehow). This is an undertaking meant to create a new income stream for myself and my family. More observations on life and the universe are forthcoming, so stay tuned...

“That’s my good girl; that’s my good baby.”

THE TITLE OF THIS POST should indicate that infant altruism, i.e., the Christian concept of love for neighbor, is a way of life that is probably predisposed for in a healthy, normal child, but must be constantly nourished. From day to day, indications begin to appear that a new human being is psychologically and perhaps also spiritually healthy.

a visit to Babycenter.com confirms it:

“Over the next few months, your baby may learn to assess and imitate moods and might show the first stirrings of empathy. For instance, if she hears someone crying, she may start crying, too. And even though your baby's just beginning to learn about her emotions, she's picking things up from you. Over the many months (and years) to come, your baby will likely copy the way she sees you treat people.”

Because we’re going through a difficult period currently, occasionally I’ll express myself emotionally in front of our daughter, when nobody else is around. You may find this strange, but even a 7-month-old can be a good listener. It’s true and it helps.

There’s an interesting detail at the end of the babycenter quote above. “...your baby will...copy the way she sees you treat people.” Does the presence of your child alter your level of civility for the better? What is also suggested is the benefit of the two-parent household. Parental interaction requires a giver and a receiver.

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Heisenberg and the Christian: Observe.

THERE’S A CONCEPT OR TWO in science, specifically physics, that suggest that you can’t know everything there is to know about an object at any point in time. And in trying to find out what there is to know, you change the thing you are studying. Back to my baptized daughter . . .

In the first post the question was asked: what’s changed? The first thing to realize is that the witnesses to the baptism are now aware that the event has indeed taken place, and one of those has a specially privileged position: the recipient herself. I think it’s clear that this awareness has a behavior- and consciousness-altering effect. Is there any evidence of it?

Aside from the paperwork that goes with the baptism, there is other evidence of a change, perhaps in the form of jewelry. In some cultures, a baptized infant might never be without such an outward sign, the “badge” referred to earlier. But the awareness of the observer is a more interesting phenomenon.

It occurred to me yesterday that a 7-plus-month old child makes a more enjoyable “bapitzee” than a six-week-old (for instance). And so it was in this case. Healthy babes at this age are able to do something that’s rather Christian: the smile, they laugh, they eat hearty. It’s obvious that’s more than simply Christian, it’s just good. But we’re talking about the observed “phenomenon”, remember. The ritual of baptism seems intended to create a tangible emotional investment that benefits the witnesses as well as the recipient, and takes the form of a sort of pair of rose-colored glasses which never come off, and through which we begin to observe a life.

Are you alert to signs of altruism in an extremely young child? How do you spot it? And a more difficult question: When does a very young child begin to demand a reward for such altruism?

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Proof of membership.

THE TERM “card-carrying” is something one usually hears in connection with one’s political affiliation: “card-carrying conservative”, or “liberal”; “republican”; “democrat”. I suppose if one carried around an offical copy of their baptismal certificate every day, they could call themselves a card-carrying Christian. Now, there is a sort of “badge” one wears in lieu of official church paperwork, however. If your name is Henry Jenkins and you carry an Ohio driver’s license that proves you are indeed he, an observer might guess that you were a Christian. If your name is Leo Moskowitz and your New York driver’s license discloses that you are a Brooklyn resident, the same observer might rightly conclude that you were not Christian. And there’s one other tip-off: detectives refer to them as “personal effects.” Jewelry. A koran. A bible. Perhaps on Sunday morning, an envelope for the weekly offering. Now, the net effect of any or all of the above is that the individual has been properly labeled, but that doesn’t tell us much about what’s inside.

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It’s “Official”.

SOMETIME AROUND ten o’clock in the morning, Central Standard Time on Sunday, my firstborn daughter, age 7+ months, became a Christian. Well, what did that actually entail? From her perspective, all there is to remember is that she got dressed up nicely, got taken to another of those big houses where everybody smiles and looks very nice, there’s very pretty loud music and singing. And then her daddy took her for a short walk, and gave her to a very nice stranger long enough to spill some water on her before giving her back, and going back to where they started. By then she was tuckered out enough to deserve a bottle and a very nice nap. After that, a lot of smiles, passes around, and smiling at those little boxes with the flashing light on them.

Then it’s back to “business as usual”. Life goes on. So what’s the significance? What’s changed?

I suppose that what most folks will tell you is that Christians are, number one, believers in a certain creed, and, number two, behave and act most of the time in a fashion intended to benefit those around them as well as themselves. There is a third thing: the paperwork.

It’s an odd thing. What proofs of membership do people carry around with them every day? What privileges and responsibilities are represented by those proofs? If you’re a typical American, your well-organized purse or wallet might state any number of the following: that you are permitted to drive a vehicle; that you are a citizen listed in the nation’s database of current or future Social Security recipients; that you may legally purchase merchandise, goods or services without handing over cash immediately, that you are permitted to vote in any number of various elections, and also support a certain political party; that you are currently employed by a concern that is careful about identifying their employees; that you are listed on the rolls of an organization that protects certain rights you may have as a worker; and perhaps that you’re permitted to travel abroad. That might cover most people.

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