too young to hear about the C-R-O-S-S? : by amy

There's a 3-year old boy at Logan's home day-care who recently heard the story of Jesus.  Apparently, somebody told him about a man named Jesus who died on a cross.  I'm not sure if this person explained why Jesus died on the cross or anything else, but the mother said that her son was "freaked out" by the story and was asking a lot of questions.  The mother was clearly NOT pleased that someone told her young son about Jesus.  The conversation went like this:

Mom: So, just wanted to let you know that yesterday, someone told M about Jesus and the C-R-O-S-S.
Babysitter: Oh.  Okay...
Me: Oh really?
Mom:  Yeah! (in disbelief)  *sigh* So M will probably want to talk about it.  He was a little freaked out about the C-R-O-S-S.
Me:  Ohh.  Okay. (now realizing M's mom is not pleased with this) Who told him?
Mom:  Just somebody.  Can you believe it?  Who would say such a thing to a young child??  The nerve of some people...
Me:  ...Right.  Yeah...so what did you say to him when he asked about it?
Mom:  I just told him 'Oh, I heard of him.  I heard he did a lot of good things.'  and that was it.
Me:  Ah, I see.

So, that was kind of awkward.  Mostly because I am a Christian, and I didn't really think is such a horrible thing for a young child to hear of Jesus.  Although, I can see how the whole cross thing could freak a young kid out.  I'm not sure how it was told, but it seems that perhaps it wasn't done in the most sensitive manner. 

I had a lot of questions during this conversation that I didn't really have time (nor the comfort) to ask this mother since it was during the morning drop-off.  What part of this incident angered her the most?  Was it because someone may have tried to shove religion down her young son's throat?  Or that someone brought up the cross (a criminal's method of prosecution-- and a rather brutal one) to her very young son?  I can understand the latter-- there's no easy way to describe the function of the cross to a 3-year-old.  But would it bother me if someone told my son about Muhammad?  or Buddha?  To be honest, no, I don't think it would bother me. It's not like he won't ever hear about them in his lifetime.  I would probably have a similar response as M's mom:  Oh yeah, I heard of them.  They did good things. 

And I'd probably add, Jesus loved them too.