3 skills adults need to develop a child’s human spirit

Apr 27, 2015 | Attachment

Skill #1:   Attentiveness: Notice spiritual activity in children.

706142_54647087 dad at beach

It occurs most often in the context of everyday life, but don’t overlook its presence here:

  1. Dreams
  2. Awe-inspiring activities
  3. Peace in hard times
  4. Out-of-control events
  5. Coincidences and unexplainable events

Skill #2:   Active listening: Engage the child in conversation about it.

  • Situation 1    Dreams – “As my son was going to sleep he said he was afraid to go to heaven because he didn’t know what it would look like. I told him to ask God to show him while he was asleep. When I followed up two days later he gave me a detailed description. I asked him if it took away his fears, now that he saw it, and he said yes.”
  • KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERASituation 2    Awe-inspiring activities: “For me, surfing helps. Just being in nature and contextualizing myself with the ocean as this immortal force, this elemental force. And then doing some sort of mindfulness meditation, I think yoga is a good starting point.”
  • Situation 3    Peace in hard times: “I was 6, maybe 7, when my pet cat died. I wanted to know where my cat went, why she couldn’t come back, etc. I was completely satisfied with my parents’ answers of “She went to Heaven.” God is watching over her now.” That’s when I realized there was some other higher being out there. I felt peace. I remember it distinctly. It was peace knowing that there was someone watching and caring for us that we couldn’t see or touch, but they were out there.”
  • 608743_59175138 UgandaSituation 4     Out-of-control events: One woman says, “When I was a child in Uganda I remember times when things were out of control and I didn’t expect anything positive to come out of it. My mother helped me recognize God when something good did come out of it.”
  • Situation 5    Coincidences and unexplainable events: “My teenage daughter called me to tell me that she had pulled a 10-year-old up from the bottom of the pool where she lifeguards. The next morning she said, ‘I couldn’t sleep last night, Ma. I kept thinking about that girl and what might have happened if I hadn’t rescued her. Nobody noticed she was lying at the bottom of the pool. Not even her own sister who was with her. I just can’t believe what happened.’ And I responded, ‘You did something extraordinary. You should feel incredibly good about yourself.'”

Skill #3:   Acceptance: Discern if the child wants information or empathy.

Pay attention to this distinction. Accept it either way and respond accordingly. The child in Situation 3 needs information about her cat. The child in Situation 5 wants understanding.

Tweetable: Good news. We use these same 3 skills with kids to develop either spiritual or emotional intelligence. Click to Tweet

Happy Birthday, 1 year old!

Dec 9, 2014 | trust

Name   Child-Centered Spirituality

Date of birth  December 9, 2013

Weight  Light as a child’s heart; Heavy as the meaning of life

Length  About 300 words per week

First steps

1252919_96474559 first steps

  • First reader appeared who was not a family member or personal friend
  • First subscriber signed up on her own, not because I begged
  • When someone found enough merit in a post to “Share” it with his Facebook friends
  • First language translation: German

888077_92439238 communityA growing number of people trust Child-Centered Spirituality

We would be nothing without this community who shares the idea that children come to us with a vibrant human spirit, that we have the opportunity to develop and encourage what has already been placed inside the child.

So I’d like to acknowledge here (in no particular order) some of the efforts readers made to promote Child-Centered Spirituality in its first year:

  • Seeing Richard’s “Like” on almost every post the entire year
  • Michelle’s frequent “Share” with her social media networks, referring me to Alisha, and more
  • Shan standing by me in Dec-Jan-Feb when I felt like throwing in the towel
  • Conrad sharing the childcenteredspirituality.com link with his friends in Australia
  • Parents, too many to name, who gave consent to use a story or picture of their children

The “we” you may not know

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You’re welcome to take a peek behind the scenes of Child Centered Spirituality. Four people collaborate with me in the writing and distribution of the blog. Tara Miller edits and contributes ideas. Alisha Ule assists with social media and technical support. Annette Schalk does the German translation. And my husband Bob has been an unwavering source of support throughout the entire process.

Thank you for reading

Sadly, no way to get a piece of birthday cake to you, but this is the recipe I used for Snickers Candy Bar Cake.

Tweetable: A growing number of people trust Child-Centered Spirituality for objective thinking on a volatile subject. Click to Tweet