Talking about bris

amother

Sun, Mar 15 2020, 4:47 am

At what age did you tell your kids about a bris, as to where and what is done?

thunderstorm

Sun, Mar 15 2020, 4:48 am

I never had to talk about it. They learn about it in preschool. It wasn’t something we needed to have a discussion about.

amother

Ruby

Sun, Mar 15 2020, 5:00 am

I'm an adult, I have 3 younger brothers.
I still don't know what is done. I think I rather not know.
I remember by my youngest brother my mom warned my grandmother that the kids should be in another room when they prep the baby and I peeked and was kinda traumatized.

amother

Royalblue

Sun, Mar 15 2020, 5:06 am

With my previous baby boy, my kids were old enough to ask questions.

I hated to fact that it was always unknown and taboo for me when I was a kid.

I just told them that a small cut is made in the private part.

(I’m very brooklyn type Chassidish if that makes a difference)

amother

Sun, Mar 15 2020, 5:08 am

I would rather not talk about it but my son is learning about it in yeshiva in Chumash about Dina and shechem. And he’s a curious boy and he’s asking where did they cut. I don’t know what to say

avrahamama

Sun, Mar 15 2020, 5:48 am

What is wring with telling them exactly what happens? My oldest used to play Brit milah when he was 3 lol. He would carry his stuffed a animal to kisei eliyahu and he had a kiddish cup and his doctor toys. It was so sweet. I even got to be sandak once or twice.

Amelia Bedelia

Sun, Mar 15 2020, 6:10 am

During some sort of lesson about bris milah in fourth grade, my teacher suggested that those of us with baby brothers should ask their parents if they can show us the bris area. Boy, did my mother get upset when I asked her!

malki2

Sun, Mar 15 2020, 6:11 am

Hashem makes the baby with an extra piece of skin on his bris (or whatever you call it) and the mohel cuts it off with a very sharp knife so it doesn’t hurt and the baby drinks some wine and falls asleep and we make a big party because now the baby is a Yid like you and the rest of the family.

amother

Slategray

Sun, Mar 15 2020, 6:15 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Just be honest. They give a little cut at the private part. Just a thin layer of extra skin. It's a sign we make on our body of our agreement with Hashem, showing our commitment.

keym

Sun, Mar 15 2020, 6:23 am

I don't know.
My kids all knew by 3 or 4 that a bris happens in the diaper area.
By the time they were 5-7, I taught them that a bris is a sign of our partnership with Hashem on our most personal, private part of our body.
An extra piece of skin removed.
By 9 or 10, they've all read some sort of book that had a person pretending to be a nonJew, with a soldier (Greek, Russian, Roman, German) saying pull down your pants or something.

goodmorning

Sun, Mar 15 2020, 6:37 am

malki2 wrote:

Hashem makes the baby with an extra piece of skin on his bris (or whatever you call it) and the mohel cuts it off with a very sharp knife so it doesn’t hurt and the baby drinks some wine and falls asleep and we make a big party because ~~now the baby is a Yid like you and the rest of the family.~~ the baby has now entered into a special bris/agreement with Hashem to be part of a special relationship with Him.

Please note that a Jewish male without a bris milah is a Jew who is an arel. He is subject to certain restrictions (e.g., not eating from korban Pesach or terumah) but is a full-fledged Jew.