On Monday, I took the kids to the playground at our parish before Mariel's religion class for a picnic dinner. While we were there, our priest brought his dog out to play fetch on the field. Miranda is a very friendly, overweight Golden Retriever, and my children were all very interested in meeting her.
Later on that night, Noella started pestering me with questions about "Jesus' dog." "Why does Jesus have a dog?" and "Where does Jesus' dog live, Mom?" She asked.
I finally caught on (it had been a long day): "Noella! That is Father Brown's dog. Not Jesus' dog." Noella was adamant, "It belongs to Jesus and lives in the church."
"No, honey. The dog lives- with Father!- NEXT to the Church, not in it." No matter what I said, she was not convinced. Miranda belonged to Jesus and lived in the church.
The next day, the dog that lived in our church and clearly belonged to Jesus came up in dinner conversation. I once again told Noella that Miranda belonged to Father Brown and was not Jesus' pet. Mariel and I exchanged bemused glances and she spoke up for me: "Noella, the dog does not belong to Jesus. It is Father's pet. Jesus did not have a dog!" Noella looked at her, appearing slightly more convinced than when I said the same thing. And then Mariel kept going.... "First of all, Jesus is dead. He was dead a long time ago, so he does not have a dog. And besides, Jesus had sheep for pets." I actually did not say anything, but it must have been one of those times when my expression said more than enough. "Yes, Mom! Jesus had sheep for pets. It is in the bible."
Today (Saturday) the conversation continued. At dinner tonight, I tried to explain that when we read stories in the bible they are examples, or using imaginary stories to help us understand the lessons from Jesus. So how do you explain a metaphor to a 6 and 3 year old? "Mariel, if I wanted to say that you were really cold, I might say that you were like ice, right?" "Yes, Mom, but I would not really be made of ice." Noella chimed in "just VERY cold." I started to feel like we were making progress. "OK, so in the bible when Jesus is the shepherd..." Mariel jumped right in "Of course! We are not really lambs. He is just helping us." I congratulated her, "Great! You understand then, right?"
Mariel tried to give an example of her own. "So this would be like me telling a story... about a bunny and a pumpkin." This is punctuated by Holden yelling every time she says bunny "HOP! HOP!" Mariel keeps going, "And the bunny (HOP! HOP!) gets IN the pumpkin. And the pumpkin hops."More frantic HOP! HOP!, while Noella nods wisely, as though this is what she had been thinking about the whole time, too. I had no idea as to where this story might go, so I nodded along with Noella. Mariel continued "And the pumpkin hops (HOP! HOP!) , but it is really the bunny (HOP!), and then Jesus is the shepherd and the bunny is the sheep. Is that right?" Holden offered a rather tentative "Baa?" Noella: "And then where is Jesus' dog? In the pumpkin?"
I am not sure, but I am guessing that they don't teach metaphors in Pre K or 1st grade.
