Child Rearing

[Ceridwen018]

For those of you without children, how do you plan to raise them regarding religion? Of course, you'll try and steer them down the same path that you yourself took, but how would you feel about them delving into other religions, or coming into contact with people of other belief systems? Would you feel the need to shelter your child from such things?

For those of you with children, how did you do it?

 

[civilcynic]

My daughter was brought up without a specific religion despite the fact that both my husband and I were raised Christian. We did not encourage her to beleive in God or disbelieve. The basic tents we raised her by included:

1. Choice of Faith should come from making an informed decision based on knowledge of the different religions rather than blindly following a religion becuase you were born into it or your friends are in it, etc; (the choice of Believing in God or not also included)

2. Show respect and tolerance for others whose beliefs differ from you. We all do not have to agree on everything and we certainly have no right to force our particular brand of religion on anyone else. Do not dictate nor should you allow anyone to dictate to you.

 

[Druidus]

I would allow him/her to follow whatever path they feel is correct for her. Be it Shamanism, Athiesm, Druidry, Wicca, Rastafarianism, or anything. It's not my place to interfere in the personal choices of my offspring.

 

[true blood]

Lets face the facts. Not everyone has communication with God. Religion is bogus. Men have twisted and distorted the truths of God to fit their own understanding. I don't have kids yet, but when I do they will know God. They will learn there has always been one sin which God did not and will not tolerate and that is worshippinng any god other than God the Creator. When they defy the basic rule God set up in the very beginning, serving gods other than the one true God, they bring injury to themselves. Then they make matters even worse, after disregarding God's will in their own lives, by propounding it to others.

 

[Linus]

When I become a parent (which won't be for a looong time) I plan to raise my children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord according to Ephesians 6:4. That means teach them God's ways early. But if that child eventually decides that christianity is not for them, I will not stop them. I will try to show them the way, but ultimately the decision is theirs.

 

[Helios]

If one supposes that god exists, that one should rightfully assume that religion exists as well, and that there are indeed enlightened prophets of god whose purpose is to dispense the laws of god so that man may not undergo hardships alone and without any sense of moral, ethical, and/or social balance and/or guidance. For one to say that they believe in god yet to claim religion as 'bunk', than that individual must not have a good sense of god. How could one profess the existence of the allmightly creator yet, fail to recognize the fact that god would be merciful enough to guide us on our journeys through life with some sort of code of conduct. That code, friends, is religion. Pure unadulterated religion. One cannot take extreme factions as the religion of god. One should seek the orgins of religion and seek god from there. To deny the existence of religion, is to deny faith and belief in the one creator.

Helios has spoken.

 

[dan]

I feel that my responsibility as a parent is to provide my child with the necessary resources to help them grow up best prepared to succeed in this world. If I know something to be true beyond a shadow of a doubt I'm not gonna risk letting my child put that obstacle up in front of themselves (when they might never get past it). To me it would be like encouraging drug use. "You need to find out for youself whether this is right or wrong" I would say as I handed them their Crystal and X. I couldn't possibly interfere with their right to choose could I?

I am fully aware that they would need to cut the cord at some point and find out for themselves, but that always happens naturally around the teenage years. Who of us is so blessed to have a teenager that does not question everything that falls from their parents lips?

Some children will not take their parents word for it and have to find out for themselves (like me). Other children just know better than to have to experiment. I envy those parents and those children. They circumvent the pain and the stress that I had to deal with for no other reason than to satiate my own curiosity and arrogance.

I will give my children the principles I know to be true; but I will never force them to do anything if they choose otherwise. I have to let them learn from their mistakes, but it would be irresponsible of me to intentionally lay those mistakes in front of them without any preparation.