BellaOnline Forums Family Christian Living Teaching Children About Christmas

How do you teach your children about the birth of Christ?
Some suggestions here: Teach Your Child the Christmas Story
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dont teach your children about christmas! imo it is wrong to impose your beleifs on others before they are at an age where they can make informed decisions themselfs.

Well, James, I disagree. The reason children are born to adults who hopefully love them, as opposed to an impartial business, is so that adults can give them a belief framework. Children may later choose to reject that framework, but they should have a starting place. Any good parent is going to impose beliefs on a child--we teach them not to touch hot stoves and not to call a disabled person names; we teach them to help someone in need and so on. Religion is one more framework we can, if we choose, give our children. Otherwise, we must as well dump all children into a giant baby nursery and let them grow up any old way they choose.

Gee Terrie, you took the words right out of my mouth!!
Parents who don't teach their children do them a great disservice. Without training, they will never have a basis to make informed decisions.

There isn't a balanced argument for and against touching a hot stove and there is no reason to called the disabled names. However under 40% of Americans are Christians and when looked at from an un-biased point of view trhe bible story is pretty far fetched (ideas have been put forward that jospeph was impotent and mary was sleeping around, then told joseph (who was a simple carpinter) a ghost impregnated her) and therefore dictating all those spirits impregnating people to young children isnt fair as in many peoples opinion it didnt happen. also if you tell your child something happened then they beleive this until they are say 8 or 9 and begin to question it, it will seem you were lying to them. then when you start telling them not to take ecstacy, to practise safe sex, dont talk to strangers etc... they are less likely to take you seriously.

Did you go to school? College? Those teachers were telling you many things that you don't absolutely know to be true. They don't either, they weren't there, they teach what they have been taught. Have you ever met George Washington? But you believe what others have told you.
By the way, athough many things in the Bible can't be proved to be true, every new archealogical find and scientific discovery in that area has proved it to be true and none have disproved it.

I feel sorry for anyone who believes only what can be scientifically proven, since that leaves out love and a million other great things. As far as science goes, the year I taught my children about the formation of the earth--and I taught both religious and scientific in my homeschool--there were news articles changing the age of the earth three times. Even science can't really prove all the things they claim to have proved. That's why science keeps changing.

Just for the record, my children are 15, 16 and 20. They learned the Christmas story and believed it. They still do...and they still listen when I tell them about sex and drugs. I taught them not to take my word for the Bible, but to pray and find out for themselves. That is the only real way to prove anything religious--get it straight from the source.

I beleive stuff that isnt scientifcally proven, just a 2000 year old book saying a ghost impregnated someone who then had three kings looking for him seems a bit far fetched and will give kids all kinds of wierd ideas. I also no nothing at all about George washington other than he had a city named after him and was an American president.

Try doing some reading, James. Try the Bible. If you read it without any preconceived ideas, you may be very surprised.

ive read the bible, it had a good message and i went to a very religous primary school where we did a lot of bible study. I'm still not a christian.