Did the dinosaurs become angels when they died?

"Did the dinosaurs become angels when they died?" My 6 year old son popped the probably long thought for question during dinner and looked at me with anticipating eyes across the dinner table. "Why do you think that?" I asked, in order to win me some more thinking-time:D "Well, most people become angels when they grow old and die" he answered, "so I guess it would be the same for dinosaurs, or wouldn't it?" I couldn't beat the logic in that, so I ended up agreeing that it sounded very plausible indeed. I guess he got the right answer, because after giving me a pleased nod of his head, he turned his attention back to the meal.

The question asked remained with me for some time, though, because it made me realize more than anything that we as parents have a huge job in front of us regarding how we would like to raise our children not only religiously but spiritually as well.. My husband being a Muslim and myself - although being baptized in a catholic church - not really having a feeling of belonging in a religious sense, could create future problems in answering bound to come questions about life, death and not least, God himself. Sam and I have discussed the question of belief for our children a long time before either of them were even born, and we have a mutual understanding of not trying to put them in a religious category, but rather focus on giving them a helping hand in becoming decent, independent and honest human beings. I do believe that it is important for children to grow up with the assurance that if something bad happens, it is for a reason, and that God is watching over them. I am not sure that it is equal important to teach them that one religion is better and more right than another - that would create categories of people with more or less value and that is not something we want for them. But I do now realize that questions concerning what to be a Muslim and what to be a Christian entails, will come, and that we have to be prepared to answer them. I also realize that both Adrian and Julia have to learn more about Islam - if only for their own protection - because so many ignorant people will put THEM in the categories Muslim and foreigner because of their father's origin. Knowledge IS power and the only way we can help them to protect themselves from verbal attacks of others is to provide them with just that. And hopefully we'll manage to do just that.

About the dinosaurs - Adrian is a HUGE fan of these prehistoric and fascinating creatures and has been for quite some time. I think his interest started when he had just turned two, and we went to look at the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton in the pre-historical museum in Oslo; he didn't dare to cross the room out of fear that the skeleton should come alive and eat him :D When he was 4 we one day went to the playground by the shore down-town and being a bit shy, he refused the offer to play from a couple of wild boys at approximately the same age. He looked around and focused on a little girl, also the same age, and started to slowly approach her. She saw him, but didn't seem too interested, so he decided to draw her attention towards him by gently whispering "do you want me to tell you something?" with a secret smile. And of course she wanted him to tell her something that seemed to be something exciting as well, and she moved towards him to listen. "Did you know", he continued using the same furtive voice "that the dinosaurs evolved into the birds we see today?" She gave him a perplex look, and moved away showing him that the conversation was over and that he had been turned down. Adrian, on the other side, stood there with a disconcerted look on his face, clearly not understanding neither the rejection nor the disinterest in the breathtaking information he had just handed over to her. It made my mother's heart bleed :D This is hopefully not the way he will try to encounter the other sex when he gets a bit older - I fear that will result in a quite similar experience on his behalf:D I love him to death!