Children at temples

[Vinayaka]

At the temple I attend, a little guy about 2 yrs has been coming a lot with his mom in the mornings. He's really endearing. Our Siva has no moolasthanam and is sort of open. There is an offering table in front of it. This devotee learns by watching. So when Mom touches the base of the shrine and then puts her hand to her forehead, he imitates. But he has to stretch way up on his tippytoes to reach the base. Way up and over th etable. As Mom makes her way to the next shrine, he manages to just barely reach it, left handed, and touches his little hand to forehead, before continuing.

I often hand out the tray that contains kumkuma, chandanam, and flowers. I've been giving him a flower petl for as few days, but today he grabbed it for himself. (Thus guy is tiny, not out of pullups.) So today I figured was the day to teach him what to do with the flower. So I kneel down, take my own flower after he's got his, and I remove the glasses, tough it to both eyes, and then tuck it behind the right ear as is our custom. So he smucks himself in the general direction of the eyes, but has difficulty getting it to stay behind his ear ... something about hair being in the way. Mom comes to his rescue, and he's all happy. A wonderful devotee in the making.

Sometimes these kids are so cute they distract me from my worship, but at least with them it is easy to see God in them. So pure, so inspiring.

Any cute child stories to share. I have more, but will save for later.

 

[Maya3]

Ahh that is so cute! What a wonderful thread!

Once during a kirtan, there was a little guy maybe a year and a half or so, who danced by himself in front of the musicians. It was very cute.

Maya

 

[Vinayaka]

Same devotee is back this morning. He tries to get the flower behind the ear all by himself, fails three times, and flower hits the floor, finally he just puts it in his little pocket. But he can stand in namaskaram pose for maybe 20 seconds in front of a shrine. He just has to be an old soul, the way he knows what to do. I can't wait until he can talk a bit better, because then if i listen to him, I'm sure to learn some tidbits of wisdom.

 

[StarryNightshade]

The only one I can think of is that, on occasion, I'll hear young children attempt to sing along to Hindi and Sanskrit prayers. They still do that much better than me by a long shot. :yes:

That and it's pretty cute to hear really young children (around 2-4 years old) mispronounce the names of the deities.

 

[Vinayaka]

The only one I can think of is that, on occasion, I'll hear young children attempt to sing along to Hindi and Sanskrit prayers. They still do that much better than me by a long shot. :yes:

That and it's pretty cute to hear really young children (around 2-4 years old) mispronounce the names of the deities.

Adults, especially newcomers, mispronounce the names of deities. You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard Ganesha mispronounced, even on youtube videos. (Come on, people listen a bit before attempting.) With kids it often just comes out 'Naysha' which is indeed cute.

There's this other little guy who comes who is the 'go anywhere, disturb everything' type. He will pull stuff off tables, flick electrical switches near to the floor, play in the abhishekham water coming out the spouts, and do whatever else looks esciting to him. The other day I took him watched him for five minutes only while his mother prayed. His sister, 2 years older, is exactly the opposite. She defines cautiousness, never more than about 2 inches away from Mom, and he defines recklessness. Even the priest gets distracted from this guy.

 

[Poeticus]

There's this other little guy who comes who is the 'go anywhere, disturb everything' type. He will pull stuff off tables, flick electrical switches near to the floor, play in the abhishekham water coming out the spouts, and do whatever else looks esciting to him. ......he defines recklessness. Even the priest gets distracted from this guy.

 

[Vinayaka]

Yeah, that's pretty much him.

 

[Poeticus]

yeah, that's pretty much him.

soooooooooo cuteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[Vinayaka]

 

[Fireside_Hindu]

The stories I have, I have told before in other threads so I won't retell them here. But there is one that happened recently, and I'm not sure I told it.

I was in the Hindi class of my local temple. I am the oldest person in it by about 10-12 years. Most of the kids are younger then 12 though.

One boys turns to me and says, "Are you Indian?"

I reply. "No. But nobody's perfect."

Later we had to go around and recite all the sounds in Hindi in order. I was last. Of course everyone stared at the strange white woman while she was reciting. I remembered all but one.

The same boy from before looks at me ans says, "Not bad for an American."


I think kids are great. While they are sometimes disruptive, they are very endearing when they are being attentive and copying their parents during prayer/puja.

:camp:

 

[Poeticus]

The stories I have, I have told before in other threads so I won't retell them here. But there is one that happened recently, and I'm not sure I told it.

I was in the Hindi class of my local temple. I am the oldest person in it by about 10-12 years. Most of the kids are younger then 12 though.

One boys turns to me and says, "Are you Indian?"

I reply. "No. But nobody's perfect."

Later we had to go around and recite all the sounds in Hindi in order. I was last. Of course everyone stared at the strange white woman while she was reciting. I remembered all but one.

The same boy from before looks at me ans says, "Not bad for an American."


I think kids are great. While they are sometimes disruptive, they are very endearing when they are being attentive and copying their parents during prayer/puja.

:camp:

If I were you:

Q: Are you Indian?
A: I am Irish.


Kid says: Not bad for an American.
Response: You are American too.

 

[Vinayaka]

Unlike you, Fireside, I quit Tamil class. It was just too embarrassing to be so outclassed by 3-year-olds. But those guys cheated. They got extra help between Saturday's lessons. I lasted either 2 or 3 weeks. So now I know like 6 words, most of them having to do with family.

 

[Poeticus]

Unlike you, Fireside, I quit Tamil class. It was just too embarrassing to be so outclassed by 3-year-olds. But those guys cheated. They got extra help between Saturday's lessons.

Cheating parents!!!!!

I lasted either 2 or 3 weeks. So now I know like 6 words, most of them having to do with family.

Could I interest you in trying Omniglot to get used to the script? It's free. That's how I learned Devanagri script and Tamil script. The hardest script for me was Gurumukhi. Will never give it another try. Too hard. So gave up.

Oh, and I took a survey of all my non-Indian friends and asked which script they find prettier, Devanagri or Tamil. They had never encountered nor seen those scripts before, but they all said Tamil. I took that survey in freshman year of high school.

 

[Jaskaran Singh]

Could I interest you in trying Omniglot to get used to the script? It's free. That's how I learned Devanagri script and Tamil script. The hardest script for me was Gurumukhi. Will never give it another try. Too hard. So gave up.

So says the person whose native script doesn't have any Shirorekhas...

 

[Kalidas]

all these stories are so adorable. Makes me want to go to a temple more. I love children(duh i want to be a teacher). Do they ever have like kid classes or day care? I remember when i was a christian (sorry guys this wont last long just bare with me lol) we had "child service". If temples did how do you get involved with helping? I think it may help me learn more plus kids are awesome!

 

[Fireside_Hindu]

If I were you:

Q: Are you Indian?
A: I am Irish.


Kid says: Not bad for an American.
Response: You are American too.

Well here's the thing about that. It doesn't matter to me what race or country of citizenship one belongs to, so my response was motivated by humor (He did laugh).

His response about me being American ( as opposed to him being American too) puzzled me. It didn't bother me but it puzzled me. If by American, he means white, that can only mean his parents refer to white people as Americans, which implies a few things - they don't have citizenship, for one, or there's some sort of ingrained belief that whiteness = American-ness, which is so false it's not even funny. On the other hand, Caucasian Americans really don't talk about being European Americans. Whereas, and Indian American can talk about being Indian OR American. If I went to Ireland and claimed to be Irish they would laugh at me. I"m not Irish because being Irish is more then just your ancestral heritage. So it's a weird thing.

Also there's an implication that by virtue of being White, I am less apt at learning languages that aren't European. Again, this doesn't offend me coming from a child, I just find it interesting on a sociological level.

The aim of my response was simply to show I had a sense of humor despite being an adult. Sometimes awkwardness only exists between different cultures/races because we assume there would be. It doesn't have to be that way. Humor is a good bridge for many things.

As for learning the language itself I actually recently stopped going not because I felt intimidated by kids but because children and adults learn differently and it was not the place for me. I was much farther ahead than they were (That's not bragging, that's just an observation). I am now working with the temple to find an adult volunteer willing to speak to me in Hindi. It's a fun language and while I am slow, I enjoy it.

:camp:

 

[Fireside_Hindu]

all these stories are so adorable. Makes me want to go to a temple more. I love children(duh i want to be a teacher). Do they ever have like kid classes or day care? I remember when i was a christian (sorry guys this wont last long just bare with me lol) we had "child service". If temples did how do you get involved with helping? I think it may help me learn more plus kids are awesome!

Many temples have the equivalent of Christian Sunday Schools. It's usually called Balagokulam or Balavihar. I have never seen a "children's puja" in the same sense that some Christian Churches have children's masses/services.

 

[Kalidas]

Many temples have the equivalent of Christian Sunday Schools. It's usually called Balagokulam or Balavihar. I have never seen a "children's puja" in the same sense that some Christian Churches have children's masses/services.

Yeah "sunday school" was more or less what I was getting at. A place where children are taught the stories, learn the rituals and their meaning, maybe some arts and crafts to take home to mom and dad.

I think things like this are important for kids. Helps them get connected to their faith and helps build communities.

 

[Vinayaka]

Yeah "sunday school" was more or less what I was getting at. A place where children are taught the stories, learn the rituals and their meaning, maybe some arts and crafts to take home to mom and dad.

I think things like this are important for kids. Helps them get connected to their faith and helps build communities.

We have a class at out temple. There are also language classes here and there. But I really think it is up to the parent. Parents shouldn't be expecting someone else to teach the religion to them. Often there will be different beliefs come out as well, and then where does the poor child stand? Temple class says one thing, parent says another.

But back to the topic ... this morning after the puja my little friend approaches the priest and tugs on the veshti. (Priest is engaged in a conversation.) So priest stops talking, saying 'oops, I forgot something' and goes into the moolasthanam to retrieve the daily banana this guy has come to expect. Talk about special attention! But that's what you get when you're a hard core devotee.

 

[Sb1995]

Its nice to watch when parents pray and the children replicate everything their parents are doing. Like when they namaskar , the kids do the same