“Mom! Mom!” My 6-year-old daughter came flying down the stairs to find me in the kitchen making potato salad (like a good Midwestern woman should). “Mom! Christopher invited me to Madness Mountain! And if I go with him, I get a prize!”
“Uh… what?” I cocked a confused eyebrow as I stirred in the mayo. “He wants you to go where?”
“Come outside and he’ll tell you!”
I went outside to find one of the neighbor boys my daughter often plays with dressed up like an explorer. “I heard you’re going to Madness Mountain!” I exclaimed in my best “I’m a cool mom” voice.
“It’s Mountain Madness,” he said proudly, showing off his vest. “And it’s for VBS. If I bring someone new, I get a prize.”
VBS. Ah. I knew that acronym from my days as a Methodist.
Vacation Bible School. Something that was fun as a kid when all you did was eat snacks, sing songs, and make crafts
Yes, I was a little concerned that she would come home with hard-set ideas about the nature of the universe
Turns out there was nothing to worry about. Apparently, in one night of church, she learned that there was a “Mountain Chief” who was the “father of everybody, even you, Mom! Oh wait, what about Grandpa?” She also told me that the Mountain Chief killed his mother and then brought her back to life, and that if you die you come back as an animal. Yeah, we had a lot to talk about when she got home!
I’m very glad that my daughter was able to have this experience, and I think if she is asked to go another time, I’ll send her
I’m happy to have her ask me those “tough” questions as she grows older, because I want to have those meaningful discussions. She has been, and will continue to be, raised in an agnostic, accepting home where we encourage learning and exploration. Besides, the studies have already been done — kids who grow up in nonreligious households are actually more likely to be altruistic and generous. No matter what “Mountain Chief” says.
