How to pass on spiritual values to my child?

[Saraswati]

I'm hoping to get some advice from anyone out there whose spiritual beliefs do not fall neatly into a specific religious category.

How do you/will you go about teaching your children about what you believe? My eldest child is only 3. If I was strictly Christian it would be easy to explain to her that God lives in heaven and we have to ask his forgiveness when we do wrong etc. But I believe God is everywhere and everything and is a loving 'energy' rather than a being. I don't think God has a gender or any humanistic qualities (like forgiveness or judgement)... but how do I pass this on to my child without completely confusing her?

The other day she asked me what God is. The best I could do was point out the window to the pink sky (it was sunset) and say 'that's God'. Of course, now every time she sees any kind of crazy thing happening in the sky (storm, clouds, sunset) she says 'look, it's God!'. She's not wrong, but I'm not sure where to take it from here.

Any thoughts?

[bronny-jane]

hey pippy,
im just going to let my dd's know that there are alot of different religions out there and they dont have to think the same way i do.

i'll help them learn about anything that intrests them, be it christianity, islam, wicca etc.
im just going to let them know that i think everything is conected and that the highest power of all is love, that of yourself and love for others.:D

[Saraswati]

Thanks, that's very helpful. I definitely want my children to learn about all religions too. :yes:

[faery]

hey pippy

interesting.....we are facing a similar issue in my house although jarrah is only 3 months old so it's not a real issue yet!

we're pagans, and i run closer to witch than my partner who prefers to be label-less. neither of us wants to get all strict with regards to "teaching" our child about our beleifs. that strictness was what i hated about religion when i was growing up.

we feel that the best way to get our beliefs across is to truly live them. for example, we believe that nature is sacred, so we plan on taking bubba out into the bush as often as we can so he can realize than himself through experience. we believe that mother earth is our blessed provider, so we will grow food to show jarrah the gifts she gives us; and do everything we can to live lightly on her.

spirituality through action!

you could start showing her energy. the vibrations that make everything alive. when i was a kid i loved playing with energy, making balls of it in my hands, feeling other peoples energy fields. simple little things that can start the understanding of how we are all connected.

[kymmy]

The best way to teach is through example, I think.
Now my girl is at school I have noticed it is getting harder to teach her what we believe as she is influenced more by what the majority is doing
WE just try to explain that there are other beliefs but we don't practice the same.
It is important to us that she respects the beliefs of others
but that she also understands just because everyone else is doing, thinking, or believing something, doesn't mean she should follow.
Even though we are Christian, how beliefs aren't standard- we don't follow a major religion so it is diff.

[survivamum]

Hi ya Pippy.
I struggle with that still and my bunch range from 2 to 12!
It does get easier as they get older. Weird as it may sound, i think toddlers understand more than what we think they do about God, as they haven't long been away from the spirit world.
All you need to do is share from your heart. I think it may be as simple as starting with pairing God with love. Love = God, God = Love.

There is a great book called "Conversations with God" that is a really enlightening read. The guy who wrote it has also written a book for kids called "The Little Soul and the Sun".

Kids have a natural curiosity about the world and telling them that God so loved us that he made the world and everything in it for us helps them remember how awesome God is.

Good luck exploring it with your littlies....and good on you for sharing openly with them. What a loving mum!

[Saraswati]

Wow, strange coincidence! I have read all the Conversations with God books (the last one, Home with God is awesome) and just bought The Little Soul book too. My daughter loves it. She's only 3 so we don't read all the words (too long) but she definitely gets the gist and now talks about God all the time and says that 'the little souls come down to earth through the rainbows - woosh!'. Very cute. I've mentioned that you can see God in each other's eyes so her latest thing now is to stare into everyone's eyes looking for God.

I'm being careful not to give God a gender because I don't want to humanise the All That Is.

Do you know of any other books like this one?

[nemosmum]

DH is Indigenous and when people ask him "what religion are you?" he simply says "Your standing on it mate " :D

He has a very strong spiritual connection to the land and his people, which i am sure he will pass on to our son:thumbsup:

The Indigenous culture has such wonderful spiritual beliefs and I am learning heaps myself!

I was raised catholic and even though i believe in God/higher power I am alot like you, Pippy I dont believe in a god that is male and sits on a thone in heaven etc etc

I do have some lovely books aimed at toddlers called "God loves you" and "God made you" which i read to ds just as a way of making him understand that he is a beautiful unique person who is loved and created with love etc

We also read alot of Dreamtime books, which are significant to ds's particular tribe.

My mother (a strict catholic) says we will just confuse him by "Filling his head with all that mumbo jumbo Aboriginal stuff" BUT i just ignore her as it cant be anymore confusing as going to church and being told to "drink" jesus's blood and eat his "body";)

I guess its something we will muddle our way through as he gets older etc