Review & Giveaway: Tommy Nelson's Jesus Series - Easter

Easter is just around the corner! As Emma gets a little older, I wanted a way to remind her of the true meaning of Easter. Sure, the stuffed bunnies are cute, and the candy is yummy. But what about Jesus?

As parents, we do our best to keep the focus of Christmas on Jesus. But Easter is tougher for me. How do you explain to a young child the significance of Jesus dying for them and coming back to life? Do they get it? How do you deal with the violence of the crucifixion without leaving kids fearful?

Today we sat together and watched the Easter portion of The Jesus Series DVD from Thomas Nelson publishers. This DVD was sent to me by Tommy Nelson, the kids' division of Thomas Nelson. You're probably most familiar with their Hermie and Gigi God's Little Princess series. The Read & Share DVD Bible is another one of Tommy Nelson's tools to help parents introduce their kids to Jesus.

Before I watched the video, I was a little apprehensive about the violence issue. Emma is extremely sensitive. It's not that I want her shielded from the true suffering of Jesus. I just want her introduced to it in an age-appropriate manner.

This video came through for us. Not only did it share an accurate story of the last week of Christ's life on Earth, it did it in a way that let Emma know that Jesus did suffer. But it didn't scare her. She was most affected by the people yelling "Crucify him!" in the crowd scene. She wanted to know why they were mad at Jesus. Good question, little lady. And a good conversation-starter.

My hope for this DVD was that it would cause Emma to ask questions, and that's just what it did. I would encourage any of you with young kids to use this as a tool to begin a discussion about what Jesus was here for and why He had to die.

Tommy Nelson has generously offered to provide a copy of the Easter DVD from The Jesus Series for one of my readers! If you'd like to win a copy, there are seven ways to enter to win:

1. Visit the Tommy Nelson website, and tell me what your favorite product or video is. This company has so many great resources for kids!
2. Become a Tommy Nelson Facebook fan. Come back and leave a comment letting me know that you became a fan.
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If you're entering more than once, please leave separate comments letting me know what you did. If you do four different things to enter but only leave one comment, you only end up with one entry. Instead, leave a comment for each method of entry that you use.

The winner will be chosen randomly on Thursday, March 18 at 9:00 p.m. EST. Good luck!

Disclosure: I received a free DVD from Tommy Nelson. Tommy Nelson is also supplying a free DVD for my giveaway winner. The reviews here are my own honest opinions of the product and were not influenced by the free DVD.