Jesus held on the cross with nails in his hands

[TaFox]

DD5 is in year 1 and has been learning about Jesus at school. Great stuff in the spirit of Easter.

The RE teacher told the class how Jesus was NAILED to the cross.

This is quite graphic for a little girl who believes that the Easter bunny will leave eggs in our garden.

Should I tell school that this is too much info for little ears?

Yeah, this.

My DC went to a secular school but were still taught about Jesus being brought back from the dead 🙄. Can’t escape it by avoiding faith schools sadly.

As a daughter of a vicar, who spent her childhood largely in churches, I can categorically say that I wasn't traumatised by this. Even after the reading of the Passion on Palm Sunday, and the (quite frankly, very depressing and sad) services on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday). Easter is a huge event in the Christian calendar. Children will learn about it from a very early age, as will they learn about mummification and Mayan history (which includes sacrificing children). It's not pleasant, but I don't know any children who have been actually traumatised by it. Perhaps upsetting and conversations needing to be had with parents about it, but it is part of culture - even if not a religion that someone is actively involved in. Children are resilient - far more than adults, sometimes.

That said, it's hard for a parent to see their child upset, and I'm sorry if yours has been. I'm certainly not disputing that children (and adults) could have a very real human reaction to learning about it, because it's hard to hear.

Depends if that’s what you believe. At Easter we celebrate a couple of days off work and an excuse to eat too much chocolate.

How very dare you compare the magnificent hare to a bunny. Hares are amazing, intelligent, strong animals. Bunnies are mere animal feed. Grass for carnivores.

@ZenNudist We were all really little, the kids wouldn’t have had a clue, but interesting to reflect on as an adult, and I’m glad the teachings have changed.

I think I was more disturbed by the crown of thorns rather than the nailing of wrists.

This is not true. Jesus of Nazareth (the historical figure, who was very much real whether you believe in the religious figure or not - this is not in dispute among historians) died some time in the 30s AD/CE. The Roman conquest of Britain was 43CE. There were earlier attempts by Julius Caesar which didn’t result in a lasting occupation.

There is no evidence of a link between either rabbits or hares and Easter before the 17th century. Eggs are certainly an ancient fertility symbol for obvious reasons.

Nope Judas had free will, just like Pilate, just like the temple elders, just like the crowd who shouted "Crucify" (although they were rent a mob). The soldiers were following orders, but some of them had fun with it. God exists outside of time and what we experience as history is the outcome of free will.

But this is a bigger debate and I'm just going to go back to being tickled by the OP whose DD will, I'm sure, be OK.

I agree actually op. I don't think kids as young as 5 and 6 need to be hearing about people being crucified. There again if it's a religious school I guess they have to teach the story, unless they said he was stuck to the cross with sellotape or blu tac or something.

I used to wonder how gravity didn’t kick in, came to the conclusion they probably used rope and there was the malteser joke and the one about the house…….

Even us card carrying Catholic’s knew that it was a version of the truth.

Easter bunnies are not part of the Easter story, but they are something lovely to do on an Easter Sunday.

Even if you don't believe it( I am an atheist and brought my children up as atheists), don't you think that as Christianity is the majority religion in this country and has had a huge and fundamental impact on our history over the past two millennia, that you should explain the basics of it to your children, in terms of general knowledge? Even if you just stick to explaining about Christmas and Easter, and say that while many people believe it, you don't, you're helping to give your children a more rounded view.

Jesus of Nazareth as a real person is very much in dispute among historians. There is no primary evidence of his existence. That doesn't mean he didn't exist but it is not correct to say it is not in dispute

Really? First Roman invasion of Britain was A.D. 43. So some 43 years after the birth of Christmas.

So not a phobia then.

Come on OP, you can’t seriously have an issue with this but still want to celebrate Easter.

Genuinely thought this was going to be a thread about the weird idea that you could hang someone on a cross by nailing their hands to it. Anatomically implausible.

Alas, it is not.

I was taught that most convicts were merely tied to the cross, but that Pontius Pilatus (sp?) had ordered a harsher punishment for Jesus as he was subverting authority?

DT’s didn’t go to a British school so didn’t have religious education. We have told them stories of different cultures and they have friends of many different backgrounds and beliefs.
We don’t lie to them so they have grown up being able to make their own decisions about faiths. They are also atheists.

I think the point of the crucifixion was that it was quite ... horrible.

I dont think it would be appropriate to give a small child a blow by blow account of exactly how crucifixion kills you and how Jesus would have felt and how long it would have taken him to die would be appropriate.

But the basic element of the story - that he was nailed to the cross - I think that's fine if horrible. Four year olds aren't wallflowers they can cope.

Well. 'The word Easter' comes from the spring goddess Eostre and there was a pagan spring festival on the equinox long before Christianity. According to the site I'm linking to, celebrating with coloured eggs date back to at least 580 BCE in Persia. In Ukraine, Pysanka eggs historically honored the sun god father of Eostre's child until Christianity came to Ukraine. Rabbits and hares have also been traditionally associated with the spring fertility festival

https://eu.sctimes.com/story/opinion/2022/04/16/traditions-easter-and-cultural-appropriation-eostre/7317930001/

Easter isn't about chocolate eggs and bunnies. But I suppose a sensitive child could find details of the crucifixion scarey. I remember clearly being told in quite graphic detail the nails were likely through the wrists. Never forgot that.

I genuinely thought, having read the title, that the OP was bothered by the error re hands vs wrists! Nails would just rip through the hands.

Edit: looks like I'm not alone!

I agree with this. I’m also an atheist. My children have a lot of curiosity over religions, in fact DS is RS captain at his school despite being a non believer.

As an aside, there are lovely children’s books that give children a counterpoint to the “foundation myth” of Adam and Eve. One is called “Older than the stars”, and explains to children in a very lovely way that they are made of stardust.

I learnt about this in Sunday school and I actually did lose sleep over it. I was quite traumatised. I kept imaging how it would feel to have nails hammered through your hands, and the image of him on the cross dripping with blood still disturbs me to be honest. I don’t like seeing crucifixes.

As that (the crows bit) isn't in the Bible, I'd be surprised if it were included. I think it was made up for the Passion film, though it might have come from some traditional (but non-Bible) source.