School has started in our area and now I am trying to find activities to fill Jonathon's day since he's no longer in the school system. HOORAY! He wants to know everyday what he is going to be doing. I think he has a right to know what his day will look like. The problem is he wants to know "where are you going to take me to do something I want to do today?"
There are days when I need to stay home and get stuff done around the house and he does not want to hear "we're staying home." I think my goal will be to make a point of taking him out each day. Even if our outing is just to the post office, grocery store, or library.
Which speaking of... I told him we would go for a walk today... it's now 9:00p.m. and he is insisting on going for a walk and has even found a lantern to address the problem of it being dark outside... gotta go!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Help
Does anyone out there in blogland have any ideas on how to help me help Jonathon gain a better understanding of death?
We have shown him and involved him in the death of animals and extended family for years, so he has seen what death looks like. My struggle is he thinks we leave dead people at the cemetary and that's where they live. I need a way to help him understand our belief that we have a spirit and that when we die our spirit will go to heaven.
A minister used a tent as an analogy... yeah, even I didn't get that! He was saying that our bodies are our tents and that some tents are fragile and collapse or die (???). Uhmmmm, I guess... but where does our spirit leaving the body come into play? Because what's inside my tent is my sleeping bag and pillow! LOL!
I'm thinking of taking a balloon filled with helium and putting it in a box. I will tell Jonathon that we are pretending (for the most part he gets pretending) that our bodies are the box and inside is our spirit and then open the box and he can visually see the balloon rise and go out of sight. Then do I bury the box??? Can anyone suggest a better "container" to depict the body?
What do you all think or do you have any other suggestions?
THANK YOU!!!
Mom-Vickie
We have shown him and involved him in the death of animals and extended family for years, so he has seen what death looks like. My struggle is he thinks we leave dead people at the cemetary and that's where they live. I need a way to help him understand our belief that we have a spirit and that when we die our spirit will go to heaven.
A minister used a tent as an analogy... yeah, even I didn't get that! He was saying that our bodies are our tents and that some tents are fragile and collapse or die (???). Uhmmmm, I guess... but where does our spirit leaving the body come into play? Because what's inside my tent is my sleeping bag and pillow! LOL!
I'm thinking of taking a balloon filled with helium and putting it in a box. I will tell Jonathon that we are pretending (for the most part he gets pretending) that our bodies are the box and inside is our spirit and then open the box and he can visually see the balloon rise and go out of sight. Then do I bury the box??? Can anyone suggest a better "container" to depict the body?
What do you all think or do you have any other suggestions?
THANK YOU!!!
Mom-Vickie
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Family Death
I haven't written in forever it seems. A little over a week ago my extended families lives were turned upside down when my 15 year old niece, Kimberley, died unexpectedly from a fall. As usual Jonathon just being Jonathon helped us through in a time of complete sadness.
Jonathon has so many aunts, uncles and cousins he has a hard time remembering everyone's names. When we heard about Kimberley I asked Jonathon if he knew who uncle Richard was and he responded "yes." I asked if he knew who Kimberley was. The tone of his response "I know her" told me he knew the seriousness of what I was about to tell him. I explained that she was hurt very badly and was going to die.
We had been out camping and had a good 6 hour drive ahead of us to get home to our family. Jonathon who is usually extremely talkative sat quietly while my sister and I made phone calls.
On the drive home my sister and I were in tears off and on. At one point Jonathon said "Mom-Vickie and Aunt Mary are crying and sad. I can help you smile." I looked in my rear view mirror and saw him with the most genuine smile he could muster. We're lucky to see a bit of a sheepish grin on his face once in awhile, so his attempt at a smile to cheer us up was much appreciated.
Jonathon has so many aunts, uncles and cousins he has a hard time remembering everyone's names. When we heard about Kimberley I asked Jonathon if he knew who uncle Richard was and he responded "yes." I asked if he knew who Kimberley was. The tone of his response "I know her" told me he knew the seriousness of what I was about to tell him. I explained that she was hurt very badly and was going to die.
We had been out camping and had a good 6 hour drive ahead of us to get home to our family. Jonathon who is usually extremely talkative sat quietly while my sister and I made phone calls.
On the drive home my sister and I were in tears off and on. At one point Jonathon said "Mom-Vickie and Aunt Mary are crying and sad. I can help you smile." I looked in my rear view mirror and saw him with the most genuine smile he could muster. We're lucky to see a bit of a sheepish grin on his face once in awhile, so his attempt at a smile to cheer us up was much appreciated.
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