Parents have always debated whether of not to tell their children stories about the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus. They're afraid that when they find out that the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus aren't real, then maybe Jesus isn't, either.
My children grew up with both--Jesus and the mythical bunny and Santa. It was a problem only once. An irate parent telephoned me and berated me about my son, who had told her son, that there really was no such thing as Santa. No explanation could calm her down. I had ruined all the fun of childhood.
My own adult daughter is raising her daughter with stories of the Easter Bunny. The little girl is two years old. Today, Holy Saturday, our parish church is open. It's nicely decorated for Easter with flowers everywhere. The tabernacle is open. We don't cover our statues anyway, but our statues of Mary are beautiful. So I took my granddaughter for a visit.
She didn't have a clue. We happened to be walking in the church, when the chimes tolled. I said, "Listen to the music of the bells." She covered her ears.
She liked running up the stairs, although I didn't think she was going to make it.
The first thing she saw was the snake that Mary was crushing. She asked to be picked up.
I pointed to Mary and said "Look at the beautiful lady." She looked around. I showed her the statue and asked her if she wanted to hold Mary's hand. She said "No" and looked at me like I was crazy.
We went to the empty tabernacle and I told her that Jesus lives in there, but today He's gone. That she could see.
Then we went around to see and smell all the beautiful flowers until she said, "I want to go home."
So, apparently two years old is too young for religion.
But not the Easter Bunny.
[Drawing above shared under a creative commons license. Original by palomaironique and shared under a Creative Commons image license.
