WEEK 11. Encouraging spiritual intelligence. The fun game of praying?

A couple of days ago I was very, very tired in my living room, watching Daniel as he played with his dinosaurs. Then he asked, "Mom, what happens when a Diplodocus dies?". This sauropod of twenty meters long, is not a tiny ladybug which can be issued at any time any place ... so without thinking too much I decided that the best place for this good-natured herbivore, high tree surgeon, would be going to heaven. This conversation could not finish that easy for a kid trained in the exciting game of brainstorming. Then he continued: "But Mom, if he goes to heaven, He is going to crash against dad's plane when dad takes off." I thought difficult questions began after twelve years old and not when three. Then after a flash image in my mind of a tangled 37.57m A320 with a Diplodocus 27m. I noticed a mischievous smirk on the face of my husband who was hiding himself behind his Ipad. He and I have serious disagreements on the subject. He says that heaven is not a good solution after life for a person who currently has it as his office. He assails the strange fear that he will have to continue working overtime, take San Juan to nimbostrato, evacuate the tower cluster that is about to burst, draw a "welcome Diplodocus" by the Mintra level ... He seems more attracted by the idea of a storm-free warm hell and where the soil does not move. Anyway, I said to Dani, I'm not referring to physical sky but a little further away ...

"Something like the space?" Daniel scolded.
"Yeah, well ... something like that ..." I replied without aplomb.
Then Daniel concluded indignantly: "But that will be even more dangerous mom, because Diplodocus will crash with a rocket, there."

The mischievous smile of my husband, was not alone anymore, there were tears on his eyes and he was about to break into a loud laugh.
Then I realized that it would be better to postpone the talk to the next day after tea when I could prepare better my speech for possible life after death of his beloved extinct dinosaurs. I explained the nice things I heard of "heaven" in my childhood and that it was something we could not imagine because we have never been there, like a fish cannot imagine the extraordinary world that exists on earth.

I would like to make three conclusions from all this:

First: Our children are improved versions of mom and dad. Be very thorough in your explanations and never try to cheat, you will lose credibility.
Second: If you do not know or you cannot provide the solution to an issue raised by the kids, tell them and set a date to revisit the issue when you have more information or more time. Never leave a child with doubt long time.
Third: Children and adults need to believe in something.

The issue of religion in our brain is like a field. When you're born, it  is bleak but with great potential. Some people see the religion that our parents taught us as stunted trees. Of course, we all want for our children a beautiful area of ​​ very productive lush trees. Then we leave the field fallow, waiting to find the perfect species that never comes. The problem is that when you leave fields fallow for long, they are colonized by weeds that might even become poisonous. My fellow citizen Salarrullana Pilar said something like "minds without beliefs were more easily attracted by sects". Perhaps, has depression any connection as well?

I've heard friends saying, "Well, I do not baptize my child because I prefer him to decide it when he is 18." I've never heard: "Well, I do not teach my child to read because I prefer him to decide it when 18." Maybe they wanted to say and did not say, "I do not baptism him simply because I do not consider it profitable for him."

My tireless and versatile grandmother Isabel used to say: "Sow parsley in May and you will have parsley all year." (Spanish proverb) The brain has an extraordinary growth phase up to six years. The languages ​​you learn at this stage, take up less space in the brain than when we learn it as adults. The planting season is this, from 0 to 6 years. There will be time for pruning, replanting, and even to "rethink" the entire garden, without place to what you consider weeds. ...

I still have a nice memory of the smell of flowers in the courtyard of my school in May as we sang to the Virgin.

This week activity is to make or print a card with a text and an image that is stored in a pocket sewn into the pillowcase. Each night we will take a surprise card, we will read it and we will tie it to a loop also sewn there. The texts I propose are beautiful prayers of my childhood. Download here and here. (But everyone could adapt it to their beliefs, perhaps simple phrases of gratitude for the day or what you consider. If you still have not convinced beliefs, you could make this game with famous sayings or phrases).

My son Daniel learned to pray at the same time than to talk. He used to choose a card by the drawing, "The little baby Jesus, the baby Jesus" and before I could turn it around he used to recite the pray in one breath. One of the prayers are in English because at home, Wednesday was the day of English speakers.

The distinguished professor Howard Gardner is known worldwide for his theory of multiple intelligences. Among them he defines spiritual intelligence as sensitivity to religious, mystical, transcendental ... I think this is an important enough issue to pass up.