Want to have some pre-Purim fun with the kids? Let’s do some cooking and learning. We can make Hamantaschen!
The way we teach Purim to little children is important to our future in this world.
HOW ARE YOU TEACHING THE STORY?
How many of us adults have had to go back in time and re-learn the facts about God because we conceived them wrong as kids? This often happened when some unthinking adult was careless in telling and presenting the bible and its stories to us.
PURIM IS MORE THAN HAMANTASCHEN COOKIES
Just as we don’t want our kids to grow up thinking that God is just some mean old man up in the heavens who is doling out punishments all the time; we also have to be careful how we present His stories to young and sensitive listening ears. They must understand God’s stories from a concept of love and grace. It is more than learning how to make hamantaschen cookies. However, we must be very careful about this.
LOVE AND GRACE
We have to be driving home the RIGHT points in the stories, or the children might get a few things confused.
Please don’t leave this part of their education to the public schools and pre-schools!
Any time this happens, you may have to straighten out a whole mess of misinformation.
If you aren’t careful you will be dealing with the problems of sexism in the Vashti department. You may find too much importance being placed on the physical beauty of Esther, as opposed to the beauty of her heart. Remember the love and grace portrayed in the story.
If you aren’t careful with your presentation of the tale; the Jews in this story will come off looking like a bunch of bloody and violent people seeking revenge. Nothing could be further than the truth. It was Haman who displayed these traits. He was a descendant of Esau.
Getting this part of the story wrong would be so obviously opposite from the truth. Children need clear details in simple terms. With either subject, children do not need to dwell on the violence.
GIVE THEM A CHANCE TO GROW FIRST
Let’s face it; toddlers SHOULD have a positive aversion to the subject of genocide!
Let’s not rush that subject.
The trick is to find a way to teach the story properly so that little toddlers aren’t faced with the fact that there are bad people in the world too soon in their formative days. Stick to the Hamantaschen cookies a while longer.
Give them a chance to grow up a little first; please!
On the other hand; obviously the story is one God wanted us to know and hear and tell, or it would not be in the scriptures. Little children need to learn these things too. They recognize when we are not being truthful or not telling the whole story.
ALTERNATIVE TEACHING METHODS
Believe it or not; there ARE some good, non-scary ways to talk about Haman.
May I suggest the Muppet version of the story in the video called “Shalom Sesame?”
It is totally innocent in the telling. You will be delighted and your children will learn all the right concepts the right way. They will take joy in consuming the Hamantaschen after hearing this story presentation.
You can pick up from there by reminding and reinforcing those things further in conversations.
TEACHING ON AN APPROPRIATE LEVEL
For instance; in this particular video presentation the King’s attraction to Esther is based purely on the fact that they love riding bicycles together. Now that is as cute as knowing the Hamantaschen is just a hat.
That shouldn’t be too hard to talk about with a three year old!
When they talk about the wicked Haman; he isn’t described as “plotting to murder the Jews;” but is simply said to want to “send them away.”
That term goes down a lot easier with a toddler. They even tend to relate it to having to go into “time-out” but they still get the point that what Haman did was wrong and bad, and it should not have happened.
USE THE RIGHT VOCABULARY WHILE MAKING THE HAMANTASCHEN
When dealing with sensitive little ones sometimes it is better to relate Haman to “someone who was very selfish” instead of calling him a “bad man” and a “murderer.” The very young should not even have such terms in their vocabulary yet.
So let’s protect them a bit longer by saying things like “Haman cared only for himself, and he didn’t know how to share.”
Another thing that you could use to describe him would be “Haman said mean things that were not very nice.”
They will get the point without all the violence and drama.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT?
It might also be very helpful to point out to them that Haman’s behavior could have been corrected and changed; and if he had asked properly he would have been forgiven by everyone.
Why not let them help you make these Chocolate Cheerio Hamantaschens as you discuss these things?
As you bake together you can be explaining who Haman was and why it was (and still is) important for all of the hate that he represents to be wiped completely off the earth.
CHOCOLATE CHEERIO HAMANTASCHEN
Ingredients for the dough:
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 Tablespoon milk
One teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup chocolate Cheerios (crushed)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
Ingredients for the filling:
8 ounce cream cheese (softened)
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup chocolate Cheerios (crushed)
a pinch of salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
Some additional chocolate Cheerios for topping
Directions:
Use a small bowl to combine the milk and the chocolate Cheerios for the dough, Set them aside for later.
In another bowl cream the butter and sugar and add the eggs, milk and vanilla.
With another bowl whisk the flour, salt, baking powder and crushed cereal.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients to form a dough. Make the dough form into a ball and wrap it up in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.
In the meantime; take the milk and cereal in the bowl that we set aside and add it to cream cheese, salt, sugar and vanilla.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
After one hour of refrigeration; roll out half of the dough to about 1/4 inches thick. Cut out round cookies.
Put 1/2 teaspoon of filling into each middle of each cookie.
Fold the edges of the cookie circles into triangles pinching the ends to secure.
Place the cookies in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, then bake for 9 – 12 minutes.
Enjoy your cookies!
TALKING WHILE BAKING
One of my favorite children’s story tellers is a lady named Sylvia Rouss. She has rewritten the Megilla into a story which young children will relate to well. Here is the link to her retelling: http://www.sylviarouss.com/a-new-retelling-of-the-purim-story-for-young-children/.
Be sure to notice the good questions she discusses with the children after all the telling is done. They might come in handy during your discussions. They will definitely put your children to thinking and pondering the story in the right ways.
KEEPING THINGS SIMPLE
If we keep things simple and focus on the values of the story we will always win the hearts of our children.
When we make the effort to include the fun of the costumes and put emphasis on sharing with friends and family they learn a lot from that.
If you teach them to cherish good stories; they will grow up loving great literature and enjoy reading.
GOOD QUESTIONS
While you are baking these festive cookies with them it might be fun if you simply ask them good questions to ponder; such as:
1. Who is a hero?
2. Have you ever met someone who is a hero?
3. What does it mean to be really brave?
4. When was a time that you felt really brave?
So enjoy the awesome holiday called Purim!
Rejoice and have a lot of family fun with the story and all of the great activities.
SAFE AND SECURE HEARTS
You can relax once you have put a little extra time into the teaching of your little ones. Their hearts will be safe and secure in the home of the parents who follow the God who loves them.
Correct concepts of the Purim story will greatly help them as they go through life.
The time to teach these life concepts is in the early formative years.
They will never forget that you took the time to celebrate with them, and they will always remember God’s concepts about life.