Cain and Seth Get Married

I enjoy fourth grade religion because we get a little more detailed in our religion studies. We began studying Adam and Eve, Cain killing Abel, and today we discussed the birth of Seth and how eventually Cain and Seth get married. My class seems to take many things very literal and it ends up causing a lot of questions.

After reading about the birth of Seth in our book, we learn that Cain and Seth marry. In fact in the book it says, "Cain and Seth marry." Okay, as an adult reading this I take this to mean that Cain and Seth marry women, but my class took this to mean Cain and Seth marry each other. "Why would they marry each other?" one of the children ask.

"They do not marry each other, they marry women," I respond.

"Well, it says Cain and Seth marry," says Cosmas.

"Yes, and they do get married just not to each other." To help my literal children I also add, "If Cain and Seth married each other the book would say Cain and Seth marry each other, but it doesn't so we know they married women."

This brings up a whole new problem now, earlier this week Cronius asked me who did Adam and Eve's children marry. I told him that the children may have married each other, but the best person to ask was Father. Cronius wastes no time and finds Father that day in the school and asks his question. He comes back saying that Father told him that there was probably a time when it was okay for the children to marry each other.

So today, the same question comes up in the class, "who did Cain and Seth marry?"

"Cronius had the same question the other day and he asked Father, Cronius will you share what Father told you."

"Well, he said that it probably was okay for them to marry their brothers and sisters because there was no one else for them to marry," Conius tells the class.

"That is disgusting!" says Kateri.

Trying to help the problem, I said, "years ago Cain and Seth probably did not find it disgusting and if there was no one else for them to marry, they had to marry siblings."

So, Raphael decides to change the topic slightly, "I heard in some states it is legal for cousins to get married."

"Yes, that is true, in Louisiana it is legal for cousins to marry," says Celine.

Could this lesson get anymore off topic, why yes because Joseph then says, "Is that why in some states men can marry men?"

Hmm, not exactly a good question to hear in school, I quickly say, "Joseph, we do not support that, God tells us that marriage is between a man and a woman."

"People can really marry their cousins in Louisiana?" asks one of the girls.

"Yes, isn't it gross," Celine answers.

"Well then, my sister should go there because she really likes her cousin," the other girl says.

"Okay class, we have really gotten off topic and now Ms. J. wants everyone to know something. We do not talk about our families in negative or embarrassing ways. If we want to make a comment about our families we need to ask ourselves three questions. Would we be mad if that family member was sharing a story about us like the one we are getting ready to share with the class? Would we feel embarrassed? Would we be upset? If you answer yes to any of those questions, we do not share that story with the class."

When teaching young children you must remember, stories are often exaggerated and our not typically interpreted well. The way I see it the one child's sister does not want to marry her cousin, instead she probably gets along well with her cousin.