Rascal:
I am not aware of any “mass kits”, but I did catch my 2YO son walking around the house with the “bible” over his head as during a procession or for the gospel. He will also take a cross and march around the house also lifted up high.
My parents did give him a small goblet and a bowl and a nice doley to make an “alter”. He doesn’t play with it much, but it’s nice to see him and his sister sing “Holy, Holy, Holy” or parts of prayers while acting our some sort of mass.
It’s imaginative play and I don’t see any harm in it. It is nice to see how much they pick up and it also helps keep them paying attention in mass.
I’m just hoping he doesn’t get into playing homilys.
That’s something. Sounds like my two year old son, Levi. Ever since he was about 1 1/2 years old he began to ‘play mass’. He loves to do the same things…lift the cross high above his head, process around with a book above his head (pretending it’s the Gospel book), pretends to give out communion, pretends to baptize people, swings an incenser (anything that’s similar), sings parts of the Liturgy, has professed parts of the Creed and the Our Father, and other parts of the Liturgy. It’s really quite amazing. Some of the parishioners at church think he’s amazing. He likes to turn around in the pew and bless everyone behind us. We try, of course, to keep it limited (so that he doesn’t distract anyone or appear disrespectful), but, of course, most people comment positively and think it’s quite incredible and adorable.
He was recently given a plastic ‘goblet’ which looks like a chalice, by a Monsignor we know, because he thought it would be something our son would like. We sent him, in return, a photo of our son ‘playing priest’ …holding the ‘chalice’ and wearing a ‘throw’ over his shoulders like vestments.
My brother, a Byzantine Catholic priest, says (jokingly) that he can find a liturgical use for any household item!
I’ve seen little Mass kits in the Catholic Child catalogue, which seem only to be ‘anti boredom’ toys with a ‘religious’ theme. I think it’s okay when they’re young, but I try and avoid, in general, too many ‘toys’ in church, as I think children should be taught to be attentive, patient, and focus on what’s happening, rather than ‘playing’. Just my opinion.
I saw a cute huggable Jesus doll in the same catalogue, and I thought how nice a gift it would be until I began to imagine the worst (like a young child’s possible treatment of that doll). Now, of course, I realize that it’s just a doll…but there’s just something that makes me cringe inside when I think of my son dropping, stepping on it, and so forth…if you know what I mean.
) then he holds the cracker over his head, just like father. Then he will brake it and say this is the body of Christ.
wow this thread brought back some good memories. when i was younger, my cousin Eddie (8 or 9 at the time) would always make my cousins and i attend his “Mass” in the living room. he would go all out, using missaletes and songbooks and assigning us to read and his mom even made him vestments!! communion would be grape juice and Marias (a mexican flat cookie).
