Is There Ever a Right Age To Break It To Your Kids? December 20, 2011

Is There Ever a Right Age To Break It To Your Kids?

By Hemant Mehta
December 20, 2011

(via Toothpaste for Dinner)

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The cartoon reminds me of this fantastic Louis CK bit (start at the 0:35 mark… NSFW):

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Can’t forget this comic from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal!

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  • Anonymous

    I told my son about religion as an educational lesson on different beliefs, so he never believed them, he just has an understanding.   Nothing to be undone.

  • My kids (currently 9 and 6)  have known for quite a while that there is no afterlife, no God, and that the Sun will eventually expand and swallow the Earth. If there is ever a zombie apocalypse I think my children will take it in stride.

  •  I just let my kid watch anime and read manga and comics, then blended in the religious books. 
    Interesting how often the main character in the series has to be magically resurrected.   “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If
    you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”

    ―
    Albert Einstein

  • TiltedHorizon

    I don’t know when the ‘right’ age is, that answer is likely subjective, due to a lack certainty I’ve skirted discussions on faith to remain influentially neutral. My Son, currently 5, will ask “Is God real?”, I’ll reply, “Some people believe so.” or “Your Mommy believes him to be real”. I can almost hear the gears turning as he mulls this over, eventually accepting the answer without any followup. This exchange keeps the peace in my marriage, at least for now, but his Mother knows one day he will realize my answers are generalizations, when that happens I’ll consider him ready to consider all the alternative so he can start forming his own beliefs.

  • Gary

    You must realize very soon he will ask what you believe.  My daughter did at age 7.  I figured that meant she was ready so I said I didn’t believe.  She said, “Well I do”, and moved right on to something else.  This was about 6 months ago and not a word was said about it since.

  • When religion comes up with my kids we basically just tell them that “mom kinds believes in some kind of God but dad doesn’t”.  So they know that both viewpoints are “out there” and represented in the family.  They also know that either viewpoint is on teh table and OK.  My older child has already come out as an atheist.  My younger one is still thinging about things.

  • Sulris Campbell

    i was raised by athiest parents and i used to beg my dad to tell me about different religous beliefs becuase i thought they were really interesting and often funny.  he would tell me about snake handlers and flood stories, talking snakes, and how hades abducted persephone; and when he was done i would giggle and ask him to tell me about a different one.  when other kids were reading goosebumps i was reading greek and roman mythology, i even had a giant book on native american myths.  but my favorites were always the snake handlers… that just seemed awsome to a young boy.  stupid, but awsome.

    i never believed in the myths i just loved the stories and i think your children are more ready than you think to handle a discussion about religions.

  • Mr Z

    The right time to tell them is when they ask… just never lie to them.

  • Eivind Kjorstad

    This assumes the kid has been indoctrinated from the start, so there’s something new and scary to “break” to them.