23 month old daughter talks about heaven

[Nick the Pilot]

23 month old daughter talks about heaven

I am the mother of a 23 month old little girl, April. She has made some comments recently that have absolutely floored me. She speaks better that any 2 year old that I know. In fact she is probably speaks at about the level of at least a 2.5- 3 year old. I know that every parent thinks this about their child, but it really is true in my daughters case.

Before I go on to my story I would like to give a little background info about some things that happened a few months after April was born. Right around the time that she turned 5 months old some strange things started happening. I wont go indepth about the things that occured, but I will say that there was definately "paranormal" activity going on. At one point I was sure that I had a ghost living in my home, and I have never been someone to believe in ghosts or things of the like.

April's father lives in a neighborhood close to a strip of shops of a major thoroughfare. (Her father and I dont reside together.) In that strip of shops is a catholic store with a 5 foot statue of Jesus with his arms raised in the window. When April asked me who the man was in the window a few months ago, I told her that it was Jesus and that he loved her. The next time that we drove by the statue April excitedly said, "Theres Mr. Jesus"! I laughed to hear her say this because I had not refered to the statue as "Mr. Jesus", nor does she attend bible school, nor does she refer to anyone or anything as a Mister. It kind of surprised me that she remembered what the statue's name was. After we got home I called her father to ask him if he refered to the statue as "Mr. Jesus" and he said that he also had not refered to the Jesus statue with that term. We both kind of just laughed about the fact that she decided to add the Mr. part all on her own.

As a couple of months went by April continued to greet "Mr. Jesus" everytime that we drove by him. Then 2 weeks ago while April and her father were walking by a Catholic church in his neighborhood he said to her, "April, that building is called a church. That is where people go to talk to Mr. Jesus." April then responded, "I talked to Mr. Jesus." To which her father said, "When did you talk to Mr. Jesus?" What she said next amazed him. She said, "When I was in heaven." Her father said he repeated the initial question about 5 times after that to see what her response would be, and it was the same everytime. More notable is the fact that when she made the statement it was in a matter-of-fact tone, almost like she was saying, "what are you, stupid?". Also she asked her father to take her into the church, and when he told her that they couldnt go in she threw a tantrum demanding to go into the church.

Earlier this week after April and I were having some mommy-daughter play time I grabbed her put her on my lap and said to her, "Did you talk to daddy about Mr. Jesus in heaven? What is heaven like April?" When she responded she was talking so fast that I couldnt understand what she had said. She repeated her self and what I heard her say was, " I came All the way down the tunnel." As she was saying this to me she made a downward vertical sweeping motion with her hand. She repeated herself one more time to make sure that I had heard what she was trying to say. I was stunned for a few minutes.

I would like to hear from parents of children that have expressed these kind of things at or around the age of 2 years old. It just seems to me like at this age children are still learning how to talk, and they almost can still be considered babies. How is this possible at such a young age? Any relayed stories and or advice would be appreciated.

[Quahom1]

Originally Posted by Nick the Pilot

...I would like to hear from parents of children that have expressed these kind of things at or around the age of 2 years old. It just seems to me like at this age children are still learning how to talk, and they almost can still be considered babies. How is this possible at such a young age? Any relayed stories and or advice would be appreciated.

...out of the mouths of babes...

When I had my sons in California (I was assigned to Air Station LA), they were about 10 ish. Their mother was never one for church, but I was, so I took them to the local parish one Sunday. Anyway, I got up to take communion, and unbeknown to me, my eldest boy was right behind me, and before I realized it he was kneeling at the pistle waiting for communion from the priest.

The priest (a kindly man), asked Blake why he was kneeling there.

"Communion" was the reply.

"And what do you know about communion young man?"

"It's God's food for us, only it isn't for the stomach, but for the soul."

(this kid hadn't been in church since the day he was baptized)...

The priest looked at me, and I could only shrug. Blake got his first communion right there and then. Then when the cup of wine was brought before him and the Priest said Blood of Christ, Blake shook his head and said "no thanks, you older guys need that, I don't yet..."

Nothing small about them, but their size...

[bgruagach]

"Nothing small about them but their size" is very accurate.

We adults often underestimate kids, even infants, with regard to what they are capable of. They are sponges literally soaking up all the information around them, storing it away and trying to sort it out, and if we adults pay attention we might get a glimpse of what's going on in their minds. We just have to listen with open minds.

While it does sound like something paranormal is going on we have to be careful to not jump to that conclusion when mundane reasons could explain what is happening. For instance, while you might not have said "Mister Jesus" yourself, you've undoubtedly used "Mister" when referring to adult men within earshot of your child. It's pretty simple for the child to figure out that "Mister" means adult male and is used as a term of respect, and then to attach it to the names of new adult males they encounter.

The stories about heaven would also be much more impressive if we could have confirmation that topics such as this have never been discussed within earshot of your child by you or anyone else. Children are listening even if they look like they're not paying attention! If the child has ever heard someone say that children are in heaven before they are born, and also heard that Jesus is in heaven, then the child could easily conclude that they must have met Jesus in heaven before they were born. And with childhood memory being what it is, invented stories and fantasies they think up during play or in response to questions (creative responses!) can easily be mistaken for memories of real events. The more things are repeated in the child's presence, or by the child themselves, the more likely they'll come to believe it really happened.

Invented memories are also prevalent in adults but are noticeably more prevalent in children. Research such as work done by Elizabeth Loftus are interesting reading for those who want to research it more.

Perhaps there is a valid paranormal explanation -- but perhaps the explanation is not paranormal at all.

[Nick the Pilot]

BG,

I take it you do not believe children can remember past lives?

[bgruagach]

Originally Posted by Nick the Pilot

BG,

I take it you do not believe children can remember past lives?

I did not say that -- just that there is a lot of mundane explanation that must be ruled out for the paranormal explanation to hold.

[Nick the Pilot]

Ok, thanks, I just wanted to make sure. The people at that webpage have gathered a large collection of child memories of previous lives, in order to have as many cases that rule out mundane causes as possible.

[earl]

I know nothing of the tale you shared Nick. But as to the psychic and "spiritual" experiences of very young children, there's something mighty interesting going on. First book I've read to take a detailed look at that topic was Tobin Hart's 2003 "The Secret Spiritual World of Children." This was a compilation and discussion of 5 years of his interviews with adults and children re their childhood experiences, some along these lines. Of course the theory is that the very young have minds too fresh (or lives too freshly born from another realm) to have closed off to a fairly natural psychic or spiritual sensitivity that most of us "grow out of." In the tale you tell though the little girl is not describing a "previous life" so much as she is a "pre-" life. But then as a Theosophist I'm sure I'm not pointing out anything new for you. We're only now begining to take the spiritual experiences of children somewhat seriously. We allow ourselves to be intrigued, inspired, and affected by adults' mystical or spiritual experiences but to dispense off-handedly with the experiences of children. Wonder what our religions would be like if they wrote the scriptures. earl

[Dondi]

Nick, I enjoyed you regale of your child's talk of heaven. There's something about the innocence of a child that makes such things believable. I at least believe that she believes she was in heaven. Judging from her rapid fire description, it sound like she recalled something. Kids will talk a mile a minute about something they experienced. If she was making it all up, then she would have to think with her imagination, which would have slowed the conversation considerably.

BTW, I'm curious. You said your daughter April is 23 months (your post was dated April 29, 1007). So is her birthday today?

[earl]

Nick, you might be interested in viewing the link on Melvin Morse's website to childrens drawings (with descriptions) of their near-death experiences, (see children's NDE drawings). He's a pediatrician who has long researched children's NDE. 1 of the descriptions has elements very much like you described-only can't seem to link you directly to it.
Dr Melvin MORSE Web Site

have a good one, earl

[Nick the Pilot]

Earl,

That looks like an interesting link. Thanks for posting it. I'll take a look at it.

[17th Angel]

zomg!!$!$! It must be teh divine giftz!! lolz.

[Nick the Pilot]

Earl,

I posted your link on the Reincarnation Forum, and people there are enjoying it. (I now know that posting links to other Forums is forbidden here, so I hope this post in not censored.)

[wil]

Nick,

I'm confused...are you female? Is this your daughter? or did you post the story from another forum?

It appears to be your story, except for the edit at the bottom which indicates a link was removed....

Isn't there a difference from passing on info that is beneficial to folks..ie links to other forums and blatantly promoting other forums?

[Nick the Pilot]

Wil,

You asked,

"...did you post the story from another forum?"

--> I did. Evidence (a link) that it was a story from another forum was removed. Up to now I have not felt it was my responsibility to acknowledge the removal of the link, which would have cleared up the fact that my post now infers I am female.

All I did was include a link to the source (a post on another forum) which has now been characterized as blatantly promoting another forum. I am now aware of such policy at this Forum.

[Miss Amy]

I don't get it. So that wasn't your story Nick?

My take is that I believe more of what comes out of a child's mouth than I do most older people. They are so honest and inncoent. I also believe that they are higher form of energy because they still believe what they see and hear as true. They don't have preconceived notions about religion and/or the paranormal.

the only thing that I would wonder about is perhaps she has been read stories that are Christian and perhaps is her laguage is so highly developed perhaps her understanding is as well.