A conversation in my home yesterday:
PA Son: "Mommy, why do I have a peanut allergy?"
Me: "Baby, that's how God made you."
PA Son: "Why did He want me to have a peanut allergy?"
Me: {gulp} We all have something in life we have to deal with. Mommy has migraine headaches. Dylan (his brother) has problems with his eyes. You have a peanut allergy. There are other children that have things much worse than a peanut allergy.
PA Son: "But why did God do that?"
Me: "God gives us all different things in life so that we learn to depend on Him to help us with it."
PA Son: "Oh."
You know those conversations you have with your children where you feel like you will emotionally scar them for life if you say the wrong thing? Well, this was one of those conversations. In the end, however, I think he understood his allergy a little more on some level.
Faith is very important to us in our home. So, the ability for Tyler to begin to emotionally process his allergy and understand our faith was certainly a teachable moment for me.
But, I have to admit, I don't really want to have conversations like that everyday!
5 comments:
You handled that GREAT! That's got to be a tough conversation (we're not there yet). I think their childlike faith esp. at this young age will help them more than we know!
Hi...I stumbled upon your blog last night while searching for information on allergic reactions after using tissue with lotion, specifically the brand Puffs! My son is anaphylactic to peanuts & mildly allergic to tree nuts. I had no idea shea butter is derived from a tree nut. So, THANK YOU so much for blogging about it!!!
As to your blog post today, my son has asked me the exact same question before!!! Much like your family, faith is very important to us. Your answer is very much along the same lines as my answer was. And, yes, those questions are tough to answer!!!
For as small as they are...they often have some very big questions. I think your answer was perfect! Our son has never asked this (yet) but he does talk a lot about dying and what happens in Heaven, how will we find each other, what will we look like, so much more that it has made really think too of how to answer it best for a child. Whew! Nice job, I am going to have to borrow that one okay :)
Fee free to borrow smilinggreenmom! That is exactly why I posted about it. I had never thought of him asking this question but I bet he's not the only PA child that has!!
Thanks for this post. My 6 year old just asked the same question a day ago. Tough question to answer. I winged it as best I could. I really like the answer you gave, and if I'd read this post in advance, would've taken your lead!
What I ended up saying was that God gave him the peanut allergy because he knew he was tough enough to handle it and he knew I'm a Mom who who will take the best care of him and his peanut allergy.
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