A child's innocent question?

Avatar for stormflower
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Registered: 07-11-2005
A child's innocent question?
8
Tue, 12-26-2006 - 12:06am

Say a child came to you and said he thought he'd seen a ghost in the house. How would you respond to him? Would you encourage the child? would you tell him that there weren't ghosts in the house?

On friday my DH, MIL and myself went to a christmas party at my MIL'S brother's house. A little boy at the party came running up to my DH's aunt and told her he had seen a ghost! Well, my aunt lectured him in front of the whole crowd, and told him "that there weren't any ghosts in the house except Jesus and the Holy Ghost, and that kind of malarkey didn't belong in this house".

The funny thing is that my FIL passed away two months ago, and I have really felt his presence during our long wet drive up to this party, and then at the party itself. I just wondered if this little boy had seen Jerry ( my FIL) at the party? I definitely felt his presence and had felt him off and on throught out the holidays. My MIL has also felt him and was kind of taken aback at her sister-in-law's reaction.

Just curious as to how you would handle this child's question?

Hope everybody had a very Happy Holiday!

love,
Stormy

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Registered: 04-22-2003
Tue, 12-26-2006 - 10:32am

I think adults for the most part discount what children see, when in reality they


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 12-26-2006 - 11:11am

I'm with Bink... I'd have been jealous, cuz I've never seen one either.

Avatar for i_florida04
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Registered: 01-16-2004
Wed, 12-27-2006 - 4:46am
I'd question more about the insecurity & dark areas in his/her life. I'm sure s/he isn't getting the mental stimulation/activities one needs to balance one's life. I remember having nightmares and scary thoughts b/c all I was doing was working at work in odd jobs. Having friends and helpers do the most for somebody.
Avatar for stormflower
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-11-2005
Wed, 12-27-2006 - 7:19am

I would have liked to see what he saw myself! This is the first time I had met this 6 year old boy, and distance prevents us from seeing him very much. Although we will be moving closer sometime next year. My mother took ill at this party so I was not able to spend anytime with this little boy. I would have loved to have talked to him more though! My MIL told me that her sister-in-law was like that though, didn't believe in ghosts or anything like that. I still would have handled it differently than she did though. Whether he saw something or not, I would have encouraged him to tell me about it. Anyhow, hopefully I'll get to see this little boy again soon! he was a doll!

love,
Stormy

Avatar for stormflower
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Registered: 07-11-2005
Wed, 12-27-2006 - 8:05am

I'm not sure if you're referring to Aunt Ann or the little boy Gabriel in your post. This little boy seems to be a very happy well-adjusted child and is well loved although his parents don't have much in life. From what I could see from observing him was that he doesn't have any dark areas in his life, that would cause him to ask a question like this. It just seemed like an innocent thing to me - to say that he saw a ghost. I would not want to cast any fear upon him or create any dark areas in his life by making him afraid to speak up about something like this.

Stormy

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 12-27-2006 - 10:30am
I would be a little caught off guard. I would not want mom to feel stupid and to go against her beliefs in front of the child. Maybe I'd say, "some people don't believe in ghosts but I do. In fact i could feel grandpa's spirit here, maybe he was trying to join us. What did you see?" Maybe when you're alone with him, you can talk about it. How wonderful he has a spiritual relative, you. Love, Leila
Avatar for i_florida04
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-16-2004
Thu, 12-28-2006 - 9:51am
I was referring to the child's question because I couldn't tell what was being talked about if you made up the story. Instead of using Holy Ghost, why not use the Spirit instead and not lecture him. I agree in where he needs special attention if expressing his fear of ghosts.
Avatar for stormflower
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-11-2005
Thu, 12-28-2006 - 12:40pm

Thank you for clarifying. I did not make up the story. This little boy wasn't afraid of the ghost - he just came running up and said he saw one. He doesn't appear to be fearful of anything as far as I could tell, (except not getting enough Christmas treats!) and I wouldn't want to create any fear for him either. I'm just not sure that I agreed with Aunt Ann's handling of it. I also was quite curious as to what Gabriel saw if anything.

But I was curious as to what other people thought if a child that they knew came running up and said he had seen a ghost. I just wondered how other people would have reacted.

thanks for posting.

Stormy