I left with two small children, and I just asked them how it worked for us. At first we did not celebrate anything for years. Life was very much like being in limbo. We did not go to meetings and we did not celebrate holidays. Then my older brother got disfellowshipped and he thought it was really sad that we did not do anything. So he and a friend of mine threw the biggest Halloween and then xmas we had ever seen. It actually was fun.
Now we celebrate all the time and my brother went and got back into being a witness. He feels bad for giving us the holidays and we still thank him. It is a really good time. We don't so much believe in Christ nor anything we celebrate, but we do have some great family memories now and usually at xmas we invite all of our odds and ends friends that have nowhere to go over. This year should be really fun since finding JWD!! We do the dinner and presents and have a great time.
The youngest never went to meetings and we all slather her with the fun. It is not nearly as sinister as we were led to believe. I read above where it said that young ones adapt and they do...in a very good way. They now join after school activities and we do charity work.
My vote is let them do something; limbo was not a good thing.
We actually have saxophone lessons and volleyball games to go to. Birthday parties and PTA meetings. My daughter just said that it felt so odd to be a JW in school. She is happy because she has more friends. They have walked in Dallas Xmas parade and other local parades. Joined gymnastics and gone to dozens of B-day parties. Me personally, I like to see them do all that I never could and I feel my kids have adapted well. I think we over participate because we were so starved for fun for so long.
Funny story............the first year we celebrated, my daughter made a huge ..I mean HUGE xmas list. Pony and all. Then this girl in our apartments, at the time, had no money. Her family was from