Interest in Snakes QUESTION from Shirley August 31, 2001 Peace to you in the Lord Jesus Christ and God bless you for all that you do for the Faith.
My granddaughter is 4 1/2 years old and loves animals; even snakes. She likes to watch the Land Before Time series (with dinosaurs) and anything about Zoo animals. She loves watching stories on the Discovery channel about snakes, crocodiles, fish, you name it. We have taken her to the Toronto Zoo and she loves to observe everything.
She has a lot of toy dinosaurs at our home and also toy snakes. She is always making up little stories (in a language known only to a 4 1/2 year old). She even wanted to take them to Mass (of course I said no).
Is there any danger in her playing with these things? I did not want her playing with snakes when this all started but my husband kept bringing them home for her because she liked them. So, in order to keep peace I kept quiet (after a time).
I'm hoping that the less attention I pay to these things, she will lose interest (at least in the snakes). I try to divert her mind to other things; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I don't know what goes on in her Mother's home as her Mother and Father are not together. Her Father lives with us so we have our granddaughter every other week.
I take her to Holy Mass as often as I can and she seems to be especially taken with the Pieta and the scene of Jesus on the Cross.
I suppose that this might be a bit of a silly question but I just had to know. As I said, I can't do much about the situation at hand, especially when my husband won't agree with me on most things that have to do with God and he sees absolutely nothing wrong with her playing with the toy snakes.
Could you please give me some advice? I would be most grateful.
Many thanks to Jesus and our Blessed Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth; Mother Immaculate.
In Christ forever Shirley
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, OLSM on August 29, 2001 Dear Mrs. Shirley:
It is normal and natural for children to be excited about and curious about the wild world of animals about them. I would be glued to the T.V. when I was a boy anytime there was a Animal Special or a Disney animal movie.
Your granddaughter is exploring her world and has a healthly interest, and who knows, maybe the beginnings of a calling -- Maybe she will grow-up to be a zoologist.
Unless she starts playing with poisonous animals or starts sacrificing the animals on an altar, or worshipping them as God, you have nothing to fear.
Back to Index Page