Ana and I have some interesting conversations around naptime.

[conuly]

She doesn't take a nap every day anymore (being nearly five!), but if we happen to be home I try to get her to anyway. Or if we're out and she's cranky, I try to get her to nap on the bus.

Before her naps, she brings up all sorts of interesting topics she'd never bring up at another time. It's wonderful, and I love snuggling up and talking about them.

Today was a no-nap day.

We started off talking about basic animal safety - no, lions don't like to eat people (most animals think people taste yucky), but they can still hurt you; if you see an animal that wants to hurt you you should never run, but instead back away slowly and carefully; if you can't do that you can try curling up in a tight ball and staying very still while covering your head; never go near an animal that's eating; remember - no matter how big they are, they're scared of you (and if not you personally than humans in general) and that is what makes them dangerous, but they really want to stay away from you, so just make that easy for them. I'm not sure she gets the last one - she can see how a mouse might be "more scared of you than you are of it", but a lion? A bear? She doesn't really know, I think, that people shoot at animals and trap them and hunt them. Nor do I think she realizes that them being scared of her (and her being scared of them!) is what keeps them (and her, if there were large wild animals roaming the streets of Staten Island) safe.

From there we started talking about dinosaurs, because she wanted to know if dinosaurs eat people. I reiterated that most animals don't like how people taste, and then added that there are no dinosaurs, and that humans didn't exist until long after dinosaurs had all died.

And she pondered that for a while before asking - "Wait. If there were no people - there had to be people, because if there's no people then who are the grown-ups??"

I'm not sure if she meant "who structures the world" or "where do people come from" or what, but I decided to answer "where do people come from" because that seemed most likely what she meant and I did not think she could really phrase her question better. So I told her that I'd try to explain but that I thought I probably couldn't explain it very well to her yet, and that it's something that's easier to understand when you get older. Then I gave her a really bad explanation of evolution.

From there we segue into religion a little, because I explained that some people think that God made everything just the way it is now, but it's a lot more likely that things changed slowly like I tried to explain. And I finally made it clear to her why, exactly, God did not make my panties. FINALLY. She finally understand that concept that God (if there is a god) could "make everything" like cotton plants, but that humans then take the cotton plants and make panties out of them. Maybe with God's help, sure, but God doesn't sit around sewing undergarments for people. (I mean, I guess there's no reason your average deity couldn't do that, but why would they?)

Which led to me explaining that I don't believe in God, but other people do, and NO, Ana, that doesn't mean that Grandma's wrong, or that I'm wrong, just that we don't think the same things, and that it's not possible for us to know who is right or wrong.

And this girl clearly either needs a lot more religion in her life or a lot less, because this is the resulting end-of-conversation:

Ana: Maybe when you're older, when you're 27, you can come to visit Grandma and go to church with me!
Me: Well, maybe. I don't mind church, that can be nice. I don't have to think God is real to do that.
Ana: Well, maybe God will be in church!
Me: *uh-oh* Uh... maybe. But... uh... Ana, I think most people who believe in God will tell you that God is everywhere....
Ana: No, God lives in church.
Me: Well, yes, if there is a god, God is in church, yes, but I think the idea is that God is always with you. Like, I bet maybe your grandma would say that God is watching you right now, because God is supposed to be everywhere. If there is a god, I mean.
Ana: No...! God can't be in houses! He can't come in bedrooms! God can't see me in my hammock, because God is in church!
Me: Yeah. I don't think so. Maybe you should ask your grandmother.
Ana: No, because she'll say God's in church.
Me: I think you should ask her. Seriously.

Clearly there's some miscommunication going on here. Which is only to be expected, she doesn't go to church with her parents or anything.

Comments

[pne.livejournal.com]

I think most people who believe in God will tell you that God is everywhere

Or that God is "in heaven" (for some nebulously vague concept of that, depending on the believer) but can see everywhere.

Though I'm not sure which is the majority view - that God is in one place, like a person, or is in every place at the same time. (I just know both beliefs exist.)

[conuly]

Oh, yes, there is that belief too. I forgot it entirely.

[peaceofpie.livejournal.com]

Maybe Ana's God -- whatever it is that she experiences as God -- is only at church. She's five, she's got plenty of time to have different experiences of God, whether or not they match what the religious group she's worshiping with would prefer her beliefs to be. I think it's kinda cool that a five-year-old can make up her own mind about where she finds God and define her beliefs for herself, even if her church would say that she is "mistaken" or that her beliefs are "limited" by her age somehow. I personally experience God as being everywhere, but I can imagine that if I were Ana and I wanted to find God and I knew there was a special place I could go and God would always be there, but that I didn't have to worry about God watching over my every move, that would be a great belief for me to have! Grandma might say something different about God, but I think that what Ana says about God is just as valuable. :)

[conuly]

That makes a good amount of sense, thank you.

[pne.livejournal.com]

I think most people who believe in God will tell you that God is everywhere

Or that God is "in heaven" (for some nebulously vague concept of that, depending on the believer) but can see everywhere.

Though I'm not sure which is the majority view - that God is in one place, like a person, or is in every place at the same time. (I just know both beliefs exist.)

[conuly]

Oh, yes, there is that belief too. I forgot it entirely.

[peaceofpie.livejournal.com]

Maybe Ana's God -- whatever it is that she experiences as God -- is only at church. She's five, she's got plenty of time to have different experiences of God, whether or not they match what the religious group she's worshiping with would prefer her beliefs to be. I think it's kinda cool that a five-year-old can make up her own mind about where she finds God and define her beliefs for herself, even if her church would say that she is "mistaken" or that her beliefs are "limited" by her age somehow. I personally experience God as being everywhere, but I can imagine that if I were Ana and I wanted to find God and I knew there was a special place I could go and God would always be there, but that I didn't have to worry about God watching over my every move, that would be a great belief for me to have! Grandma might say something different about God, but I think that what Ana says about God is just as valuable. :)

[conuly]

That makes a good amount of sense, thank you.