Umm, the Joker wasn't like Darth Vader AT ALL so no way Batman would be able to compete with the Dark Side. Vader by a LANDSLIDE.

As for the God thing, I applaud you for allowing your children to make up their mind. Too many people force their children to believe what they believe, but I have 1 question. Was it a cross or a crucifix? Because Jesus and God are two completely separate things...

My son decided to read the bible when he was 12ish. I'm not sure how far he got, but I'll never forget his comment. "Pretty damn violent for a religion based on peace."

I really respect your parenting skills - you are doing an awesome job and I wish there were more folks out there like you. (And you can send Owen over to visit any time he wants a really juicy steak.)

I hope I'll have the same courage to expose my son to things I don't believe as well. He's already begun asking the "what happens when we die" questions and talking about a friend who goes to Sunday school. His dad is a former Catholic-now athiest and me? I told him some people believe you get to come back again and again and again with lots of lives...and that maybe next time, he could be a tree. Or a rock. Or an amazing boy. The "what is Easter?" discussion was a high point wherein I tied bunnies and blooming trees to a god who comes back from the dead ("like a zombie?"). Exhausting. I much prefer today's question: who owuld win between King Kong and Godzilla. Godzilla all the way. He breathes fire.

LOL I can see Owen doing that too.

i so love your take on parenting. well done, sir.

i consider myself agnostic. i mean, who am i to say either way? but i plan to let my children decide for themselves. the other day, lola said "to learn how to be a good person, you have to go to church" and i pressed her to see if that's really the *only* place where she thinks you can learn to be a good person and she said yes.

I feel like everything else, we have to let them be who they were meant to be. We are the same when it comes to religion. When our son was 5 or 7, peer pressure kicked in. He demanded a children's bible. The kids in school told him we were all going straight to hell because we weren't church goers and didn't go every Sunday. He was frantic to learn what religion was as they scared the crap out of him. He was all over that and a George W. Bush fan for quite awhile. The Bush fan bothered me more.