at almost exactly the same time, a few
weeks before Christmas last year, Sam got
into Jesus and Kity, quite by chance, got into
the Romans. You know, the way that kids get
into things. I had long worried about where
my children were going to get their notion of
God from. I was brought up in a Jewish family
but without religion, Sam and Kitty attend
a school with agnosticism at the very heart
of its ethos and my wife thinks mostly about
dresses and shoes. But I think God is impor-
tant, whether you believe in him or not, and
that it is best for kids to start off with some
sort of faith as a basis for their developing
moral code, which they can later retain or
reject as they see fit, according to the process
of reason.
So I was delighted that Sam kept demand-
ing to be read the Nativiy story at bedtime.
And when we had finished that, I pushed
on through the New Testament (Usborne
children’s version), by which he was com-
pletely gripped, especially by the feeding of
the 5,000. Sam has an appetite on him, so he
does, and there is no idea on earth as compel-
ling to him as the idea of a botomless plate
of food. He has filed the loaves and fishes
away in his mind, I am pretty sure, along-
side The Magic Porridge Pot and the giant’s
lunch in Mr Greedy. Eventually, of course,
we came to the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.
On the basis of which, Sam decided that he
hated the Romans.
“Well, I love the Romans,” said Kity, look-
ing up from one of her many ancient history
books (at seven, she is the intellectual of the
family and gives us all hell, every minute of
the day, for anything she regards as lazy think-
ing). “The Romans built roads and bridges
and loos and invented books and medicine and
atlases and the letters we write with. With-
out the Romans, we would all still be cavemen.”
“hey killed Jesus!” said Sam.
“Well, they probably had a good reason.
hey invented the law too.”
“He was the Son of God!”Giles Coren on fathers (him) and sons (Sam, aged five).
This month: for the love of Christ
27
Man & Boy
Giles Coren
Photograph by Dan Burn-Forti