Anthropology and Religion

First of all, I am sorry posting has been so infrequent. Work has kept me pretty busy of late, and when I'm not working, I try to spend time with the kids (a common refrain with them these days is "Mommy, why are you working when you could be playing with us?") But my Mom sent an email today to nag -- oops! I mean "remind" me that it has been awhile, so here we go. (I'm just giving you a hard time, Mom.)

The kids have been coming with me to church on Sundays. I'm not sure why -- Daddy stays home and cleans up the kitchen and sometimes does yardwork, so maybe it seems the lesser of two evils. Anyway, sometimes Gwen will sing with me. Often Xavier needs to "use the potty" in the middle of the sermon (it's shocking how often he needs to do that, and equally amazing is how many other parents of four-year-olds I find waiting in the hall outside the bathroom at this time). But most of the time, the kids just sit and read magazines and focus on other things. They do like the children's sermon, though. This Sunday, Xavier made it from the back of the church to the front for the children's sermon before any of the other kids could get there; indeed, before the Pastor managed to get down from the pulpit. The Pastor said, "I think that's a new world record in the back-pew dash."

Anyway, Xavier asked Adam today, "How come we can't see God's grave?"

Adam replied, "You mean Jesus's grave? Well, no one is really sure where Jesus is buried."

Xavier asked, "Why not? And why can't we see him?"

Gwen piped up (with something she surely heard at Vacation Bible School), "We can't see God, Xavier, because he is invisible. He's like the wind."

"We can feel him, but we can't see him," Xavier agreed. Then, turning to Adam, he asked, "But why can't we see God?" Then, assuming a tone as if he were telling a joke, he answered his own question: "Because he is dead!"

Adam is not the most devout Christian (hence his absence at the service), but he did explain to Xavier that God is not mortal, so therefore he can't be dead. It'll be interesting if Xavier shares his controversial new views at preschool in the fall (which he has at the local Catholic church.)


The kids are pretty obsessed with jokes, although the fine line between "humor" and "mundane" (or, as we see above, "offensive") is a little beyond them. Still, we went to a birthday party for a neighbor yesterday, and we got to see all kinds of dynamics between the kids, a little anthropological study of its own. What we learned was:

• If a child is in a different grade in school from another child due to the age cutoff, he is considerably younger (practically a baby) even though he is only four months younger.
• If three girls are playing together, and one girl (Gwen) is excluded, it is because she "doesn't like to play princess."
• Brothers and sisters become shockingly uncool at a party setting.
• Boys are shockingly uncool at a party setting where two-thirds of the children attending are female, and yet ...
• The loudest, most obnoxious boy at the party is perceived to be of great wit, and ...
• The loudest, most obnoxious boy at the party is still the most irresistable to women ...
• ... especially the ones who think they are princesses.

Except when Gwen was clinging to me because she was the outsider, a good time was had by all. And I should add that even when the loudest, most obnoxious boy (Xavier) was shut out by the girls, he didn't dwell on it -- there was some important TV watching to catch up on, after all.

Ah, to be that confident.