Welcome to Our Blog
Enter a search term to the right, or browse below.
How art can channel a child’s spirituality
Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, writing in 1910, teaches us that artists create as a spiritual impulse. Notice how art breaks down walls for a young boy, Jeremiah, and opens channels with some of our most hurting children. Creating chaos Jeremiah's presence is...
Should I tell my kids about my old life?
Many people have chapters of their life that they may be hesitant to tell their children about. Ask yourself 5 questions as you weigh the pros and cons. Is my child very likely to hear about my past from another source? When I was in middle school, my friend learned...
Easter: a time for rethinking childhood beliefs
All of us reached adolescence with childhood beliefs, values and morals that needed evaluation. Beliefs enter a child's mind and get established in the mental operating system* without a healthy evaluation of the basis for the belief. In a child's brain, the ability...
One thing that will ruin your child’s life
If there is one thing that will ruin children's lives, it's greed. Teach them how to pull the plug on greed and you will have prepared them to thrive in the real world. --Mary Hunt Mary Hunt, the "Everyday Cheapskate" offers timely advice, condensed here, on one...
Uncomfortable about childhood spirituality? Two practical ideas…
Children want and need adults to take the lead in developing their their conscience, character, morals, values. But many of us are uncomfortable talking about it. Some believe that we need never bring up spiritual matters at all, others feel that we must instill our...
Older children ask, “What do people mean by spiritual but not religious?”
Boston University professor Dr. Nancy Ammerman organizes spiritual and religious experiences into four packages. I share her research as one way to help children understand and define these terms. 1) Godless (nontheistic) spirituality Spirituality is not framed in...
Children develop awareness of spiritual life through music
Through music, we teach children how to recognize and process certain spiritual experiences and messages coming to them. Music opens a child's spirit like nothing else does. They can sing out their joyful feelings. They can use an instrument to celebrate life or to...
The covert dimension of normal childhood guilt
The horizontal relationship When a child hits another child (with fists or words), it’s easy to tell them, “That’s wrong because it hurts someone else. You wouldn’t want them to do that to you.” There are also easy-to-point-to practical consequences of such behavior:...
Children ask, “Does God punish me when I do wrong?”
No. God keeps loving you the same whether you make a wrong choice or a right one.* But God often provides a consequence. It might come through your teacher, or from your conscience and you feel miserable the rest of the day, maybe have trouble sleeping that night. God...
Eastern & Western spiritual traditions unite & children benefit
Sifu Ed Monaghan, martial artist and UCLA Professor, had been talking about the value of meditation to his class of 13-16 year olds at Ekata Training Center. I asked the kids, “Have you ever seen anyone on a boat when it’s windy?” All had seen boats rocking on the...
Video games: a mind-blowing lesson in spirituality
Children are drawn to video games. Kids get wiped out here and crushed over there, but they learn how to navigate even when they are too young to read. They recognize that a certain character has special powers. The holistic experience of surround sound with all the...
Why one-size-fits-all doesn’t make spiritual sense
I interviewed a man whose parents understood the need to tailor their spiritual conversations to each of their children. He was able to offer this perspective: I am adopted and so are my brother and sister. Our values seem remarkably similar. We are always going to...
Matching a child’s personality and spirituality
Different aspects of God’s character are going to attract one child more than another. A child who likes routine With a child who does not like change, who likes routine, and who references the past for clues about what to do in the present, God’s unchanging nature...
The danger of looking good
One family doesn’t encourage their children to dress up for church, even though most of the kids who attend dress up a bit more. If you ask them why, they'd tell you: We don't have to dress up and look good to present ourselves to God. Come as you are. The point is...
Whose fault is that?
One man remembers doing something wrong when he was young, and having his parents feel bad and embarrassed about it. They were essentially taking responsibility for his actions. They felt that their son’s wrongdoing reflected on them. Do you see how this response...
What’s in every baby’s blueprint but is taboo to discuss?
“Morality is not just something that people learn, it is something we are all born with,” wrote Gareth Cook in his recent interview with Yale psychologist Paul Bloom in an issue of Scientific American (Nov 12, 2013) (italics mine). The interview with Bloom continues:...
Character is built on high heels
Conscience, reason, character and more. All part of a child's human spirit--ready for us to explore and cultivate with them. Where are you seeing growth and change in the children you love? How are you helping to make it possible? A story from my own childhood comes...
Children ask, “Why does Jesus get his own holiday?”
Young children generally experience Christmas like they do Halloween: one is a time to get presents and the other is a time to get candy. Older children are more likely to hear friends speak of Christmas as Jesus' birthday, which may give rise to questions about why...