Jacob has been very diligent about teaching Josiah not to hit or shoot people with “weapons” (toys), even if just pretending. I’m not so good about it. I love to fake my death when he shoots me with his McDonalds dart toy as he giggles uncontrollably :) The other day he finished me off with a head shot. I’m a bad Mom, I guess. I’ve been coming around, though, and am now trying to back that stance. I guess Jacob has taken it more seriously because he is the one trying to teach Josiah gun safety when he helps Josiah shoot his BB gun. That is where it matters, but I see that consistency is important. Not to mention that Elijah doesn’t fare as well against head shots as I do!
Anyway, the other night we were watching World News and they were covering the war. They were showing footage of soldiers shooting guns. Though the targets were not visible, Josiah asked if they were shooting people. Stunned, and unsure if we should lie, Jacob and I just looked at each other. He answered, yes, they are soldiers and they are shooting at people. Josiah looked very confused and wondered why. Jacob proceeded to try to explain that soldiers fighting wars against bad men have to do that. But why? How do you explain such a complex thing while differentiating it from hitting or shooting people outside of war. Jacob tried to explain that soldiers love our country and are protecting it from bad men.
Aside from a few very innocent conversations about death and heaven and why we wouldn’t be seeing Deda again, this was our first heavy conversation with Josiah. The heaven discussion, other than being so sad, was fairly easy because a positive twist could be added, but the ugly nature of war and why they are fought – how do you explain that to a 3.5 year old? I’m sure we’ll have our fair share of difficult conversations to come.
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