Trying to explain Ash Wednesday to a five year old and a three year old is not a simple task. I spent sometime trying to explain Lent to my children; Easter is something my children understand but Lent and Ash Wednesday...not so much. This is what seemed to make the most sense.
Lent is a period of time starting with today, Ash Wednesday, and going to Easter Sunday. During this time we give up something in order to receive something. (yes, enter the questions about what do we get but be patient and carry on.) We "spring clean" our lives so that we can live for God. We should clean out the things that we hold dear to us in order to hold God dear to us. Okay, so my five year old offered to give up bed time for lent (got to give her credit for trying) and my three year old offered television. (is it bad Mommie didn't want the kids to give that up because then I would NEVER get a moment of me time). So we decided on cutting back television time and giving up candy for Lent.
We also are starting a new tradition with Jelly Beans. The kids each got a jar and we will fill the jar with Jelly beans as they earn them. On Easter they will each get their jars and will be able to eat their jelly beans. I found many ideas on the web about how to use jelly beans to help kids understand Easter and the following is a combination of ideas I found. I think this will be a fun way for them to get into Lent.
The kids will earn different color jelly beans depending on their actions.
Red stands for the blood of Christ
action: make a sacrifice (this was not an easy thing to explain)
Green stands for Palm's shade
action: do a good deed
Yellow stands for God's light
action: act of kindness
Orange stands for prayers at Twilight
action: good "night-night" prayers
Purple stands for His day of sorrow
action: saying you are sorry
Pink stands for new tomorrow
action: forgiving someone
How do you teach about Lent in your family?
