This morning while riding in the car with his friends 4 and 6 (who were baffled by the following conversation) Declan did some serious thinking about Heaven. Meaning I think my son definitely questions things a bit beyond the normal kiddo of his age. I am starting to worry about what our conversations will be like when he is 12. (At least religiously, as that is a slippery issue. I remember having lots of questions about God, Heaven, Hell etc as a kid. I suppose I still do, I just chose to believe which is really all any of us does -right?)

Setting: Riding in the car of the family I do childcare for, listening to kids christian music. Current song is "You can't get to Heaven". The kiddos sing "You can't get to heaven in a rocking chair. A rocking chair won't get you there. Oh you can't get to heaven in a limousine ,cause the lord don't have no gasoline" (you get the idea, silly kid song)

This in itself was odd for Declan as I've never played kids' music of any kind for him (does that make me a bad mother?) Currently we're listening to PlayRadioPlay. Delcan LOVES this music, especially the songs Compliment Each Other and At This Particular Moment in Time. (infact as I was looking up this link and song, Declan heard it and came running toward the computer singing) :

PlayRadioPlay

ON WITH THE STORY

Declan : "You can use a Rocket Ship to fly to Heaven, right Mom!"

Me: "Well...no."

Declan: "Why not?"

Zachary (the 6 year old): "Declan you're so silly, rocking chairs can't fly."

Me: "He said Rocket Ship Zachary."

Zachary "Oh" ( Zachary then tunes out, not interested at all in the conversation that unfolds.)

Me: "Well Declan, only God can take you to heaven."

Declan: "Hummm. (pause) Heaven isn't farther out than space is it?"

Me: "Yes."

Thinking intently while his friends sing along to the music.

Declan: "How come Jesus could go to Heaven?"

Me: "Well, Jesus and God are the same person...(yes i did go off on a fairly complex issue here)"

More singing, more thinking

Declan: "Well, how far up is space?"

Me: "I don't know Declan. I don't know if anybody knows."

This kid is toooo much like me.

Back to the PlayRadioPlay thing...you should check out this music. It's pretty good, I think he has an amazing voice and the whole "band" is just a 16 year old kid named Daniel. You can download his songs for free if you like it. I discovered this music on my nephews MySpace site.