3 y.o. pretends 'communion'--is this bad?

[KCT]

Adorable responses!! When my youngest (now 13) was 5, she would come home from Mass and ask for a piece of bread cut in a circle. We obliged.

She would constantly ask, “When will I be old enough to receive?”

She (and some friends) now commit to 15 min a week in adoration for vocations and the intentions of the Holy Father. --KCT

 

[Disillusioned]

KCT -that’s not the same as turning mass into a game.It’s still hardly reverent. The new directives encourage as much dissociation of mass from normal meals as possible.

The ones of the other persuasion who became oddly twisted clerics:Read early chapters in the autobiography of one Harry A Williams, he "played " Mass like these children and also treated liturgical catalogues like “ecclesiastical Pornography”(??) and also the early life of Mervyn Stockwood, a liberal confused bishop-he had tiny altars in his rooms where he officiated .

It’s not healthy, I really think they should set their imaginations to something else.

 

[Chris_C]

Disillusioned–

Could there really be a cultural difference here? I don’t think so, especially given America’s largely British (albeit Protestant) origins. Still, can’t we draw distinctions between the routine play of children and childhood obsessions? Boys play at soldiering a great deal–all my boys do, much more than they play at being priests. You would not regard that as unhealthy, I suspect. (Maybe you would) But if some kid past adolescence likes walking around in camouflage utility all the time–then I think we should start to worry. I can offer anecdotes to match yours of boys whose mothers sewed them complete sets of vestments who are now wholly normal, vigorous, and orthodox priests. If I would qualify my acceptance of this play, it would be that I would not encourage it too much in girls, just as I would not encourage girls to serve at Mass.

Chris

 

[Maresiedotes]

Disillusioned:

The situation in America appears very different from in England.Reminiscences that certain people I have spoken to about “their lonely lad down the road” and “Do you know what he does to play ?” Then follows how this fellow says a mass in his garage , his mother having sewn up a chasuble from curtain cloth and all such holy disorder.This is not only in people’s memories, it figures frightfully in some pathologically odd people …surely the scenario doesn’t elicit reverence-lemonade for the chalice, biscuits for the host,please the religion is not a game.Servers don’t play as the priest gives the privileges…these children should be told that what is done in a church is so special, you cannot reproduce it in your amusements.

I’ve mentioned in another place that I don’t know why Montessori seemed to be able to build her little children’s chapel where little boys did indeed dress in junior vestments.It was just before Vatican II.

Children model adult behavior through fantasy and play. There is a difference between someone who is out of touch with reality and innocent children who make games out of a lot of things. Their play centers around the things they know and admire. What a perfect time for parents to teach them! A little gentle direction here is good – however, giving them the idea that there is something “wrong” with their love of the Mass would not be helpful. How wonderful that they feel at home enough with the Mass to make it part of their play…God bless the parents who have made this possible!

Mary

 

[arnulf]

Your daughter is in good company - St. Therese of Lisieux did the same!