Evolution Simplified

I've never considered myself a religious person, so I've always been completely comfortable with scientific answers for life's big questions. Recently, though, I've discovered that the science is sometimes a difficult sell when you're talking to a small child (or someone with the mental capacity of a small child, like George W. Bush or Sara Palin -- but that's a story for another day).

When Alison's grandfather passed away last summer, I suddenly realized how much easier it would be to explain that he was in heaven and that he would always be watching her, so that's what we went with. (Truth be told, that idea made his passing easier for me, too.)

Last night I hit another stumbling block. Evolution. Pushing Creationism would be so simple. I know that the magic involved in a story like that would be accepted without question and set along side the other stories we've told our children about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the coyote that lives under couch and will bite the toes of children who don't go to bed on time. (Okay, so we've never told the coyote story, but more and more I'm wishing we had. Bedtime would be so much easier...)

I've explained to Alison before that humans evolved from apes, but the idea of incremental change from one generation to the next spaced over millions of years is much too difficult for small minds (think Bush, Palin, eight-year-old girls) to handle. Consequently, Alison adds her own magic to the story. In her version, the transformation from monkey to man takes only one lifetime, which explains her question to me last night: "Daddy, did you used to be a monkey?" Perhaps that explains my hairy back.

Comments

[Sax]

Kids will always simplify things if they need to, but isn't it better to have a solid foundation of ideas to build on?

And, kids keep surprising us with their insights. Giving them an "easy" story, I think, just pre-determines that they won't have the chance to do so.

[David]

Both parents in our household are non-believers and we've found it relatively easy to just tell it the way we think it is. I'd find it much harder to give them explanations I don't believe in. Many elements of religious narrative and symbolism defy credibility anyway. As my youngest son once commented about heaven: "Isn't it getting rather full up there?"