Religious ideas and spiritual concepts can be difficult to fully articulate to another adult, much less explain to a child, and yet kids' curiosity often leads to complicated questions that deserve answers. So how does a parent have an age-appropriate conversation about a topic as complex as God, without confusing or overwhelming the child? Take a cue from Goldie Hawn.
When Hawn's daughter, Kate Hudson, was just 4 years old, she asked her mother about their (literal) relationship to God and how He fit into their family. As Hawn tells "Oprah's Master Class" in the above video, she saw the question as a pivotal moment.
"Katie, she was a baby. She was about 4. She said, 'Mommy, is God my cousin?'" Hawn recalls. "I looked at her and I thought, OK, I'm on the hot seat now!"
Hawn thought for a moment and then answered Hudson's question carefully.
"I said, 'Well… I think God is everywhere, really… To feel God is what's really important," she says.
That feeling, Hawn continued, is something that everyone, everywhere has experienced.
"You know that feeling just before you're going to laugh? That thing where you get all bubbled up?... It's like a bubble of laughter, but it hasn't come out yet…?" Hawn said to her young daughter. "That's what God feels like."
What Hawn wanted to get across is that understanding this feeling is more important than trying to define God as a male, female, cousin or anything else.
"It's a feeling of joy and love and well-being," she says.
Not only did this conversation seem to satisfy Hudson's inquisitiveness, but it also became a moment of enlightenment for Hawn as well.
"Your kids teach you so much," Hawn says. "I thought, 'Gee, Gold, that was really good!' Because it's kind of what I thought but until somebody asks you what you think, sometimes you don't know. Sometimes you can't hear yourself or even your own thoughts."
"Oprah's Master Class" returns for its fifth season on Sunday, Oct. 25, at 8 p.m. ET. Upcoming masters include Ellen DeGeneres, Robert Duvall, Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson, Smokey Robinson, Jeff Bridges, James Taylor and Patti LaBelle.
Also on HuffPost:
