These timely observations were made by a man I interviewed about childhood spirituality. Notice that he gives credit to religious parents who step back from their own religious style and methods, but not from their beliefs and convictions. They allow children to express their growing spirituality in ways that are different from the parents.
Ethics and values and religious education can be imbued to a child.
But each child possesses a distinct style of negotiating his or her way through the world that has not been shaped by parenting or churching. And I think some of these innate personality traits may facilitate or fetter a person’s desire to seek a spiritual realm.
I guess what I mean is that some children are going to see the angels and some aren’t.
The ones that don’t can still experience the fullness of God’s love—but are less likely to experience grand epiphanies, raptures, startling leaps into the divine.
The voice of God is a brash symphony for some that sways their every step—for others it is a whisper, less of a force and more of a companion. I think each child will hear the voice differently and its timbre is unmodulated by parents or environments.
The voice of God is a brash symphony for some that sways their every step–for others it is a whisper, less of a force and more of a companion.
Tweetable: Each child will hear the voice of God differently, unmodulated by parents or environments. Click to Tweet
A mother’s work is never done. The same could be said of a teacher. In this environment of budget cuts and layoffs, teachers often are called upon to be teacher, nurse, counselor, parent, custodian, judge/jury and cafeteria worker.
Entering a new school year, some parents and caregivers may not realize the combined frustrations and desires in the heart of their child’s teachers. As you read, maybe ideas will spark of how your human spirit can reach out to your child’s teachers this year.
School policy and curriculum govern the position of classroom teacher.
My friend Roshaun, who works in a school district of almost 700,000 students, says: I have been teaching for over 14 years and the job has changed so much. The position is more political. High-stakes testing has replaced real, genuine learning.
Each year we teachers are faced with the newest fad in education and told to implement it perfectly–and our job performance will be measured by that. Huh? My thoughts exactly. This has made my job very difficult and less enjoyable.
The job involves so much more than compliance with standards.
With his focus firmly rooted in content and skills to prepare his students for success, Roshaun still engages their human spirit:
I try to create an atmosphere of empathy and care. I spend a few minutes each day to create ‘teachable moments’ about how we treat one another and how our words and actions affect others. In other words, I’m teaching them the principle of how to treat your neighbor as yourself.
Watch this video about rituals of human connection in a classroom setting.
Pay attention to how you feel. See the way teachers partner with you to develop the human spirit in addition to promoting intellectual development.
Tweetable:
Entering a new school year, parents may not realize the combined frustrations and desires in the heart of their child’s teacher. Click to Tweet
Teachers focus on content and skills to prepare kids for success but they still engage their human spirit. Click to Tweet
At some point, every child understands a moral directive and does the opposite. This is a defining moment in the child’s life. This is when they (subconsciously) ask us, So what? Why should I do the right thing? What difference does it make? We are keenly aware that we give the answer to these questions by what we do ourselves more than by what we tell them.
Reflect for a moment on why you do the right thing.
Why do you obey traffic laws? Why do you tell the truth? Why do you follow instructions from flight attendants? Why do you file your taxes with honesty?
to avoid unpleasant consequences?
it’s how I was raised
I draw on spiritual strength
it gets me more of what I want
to get to heaven?
because __ said so (the law, the boss, the church)
When we take time to reflect on the meaning of our choices, we become clear on the direction we are giving children.
Your internal motive for why you do what you do shapes, both directly and indirectly, the framework your child uses to answer, “So what? Why should I?” That message becomes part of their hard-wiring for years to come.
Tweetables:
At some point, every child hears a moral directive and does the opposite, a defining moment in the child’s life. Click to Tweet
When we reflect on the meaning of our choices, we become clear on the direction we are giving our kids.Click to Tweet
“As my son was going to sleep two nights ago 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. I forgot to follow up about it yesterday, then remembered this morning. This is what he said.
I saw the biggest house you could imagine and its color was gold. God was there. I saw his white robe and it had a thin, black, rope-type belt double-tied [like my son ties his sweatshirt around his waist for school]. There was grass, but it wasn’t like here below. It was taller and filled with purple, red, violet, blue, yellow and green flowers. There was a cliff that I almost went off, and there was water under the cliff. The sun was there and it shined so bright that I could only squint and open one eye.
I asked him if it took away his fears, now that he saw it.
He said yes. I asked him to give me one word of what he felt about seeing it and he said, “Love.”
Here’s someone who honored the spirituality in her son.
She listened to his description without judging. Then she checked in on his emotional state which had previously been fearful.She believed that his human spirit could handle the child-sized challenge of asking God to show him while he was asleep.
And she hoped, even with a speck of hope, that God was listening.
Tweetable:
A mom’s brilliant response when her son says he is afraid of heaven. Click to Tweet
This is an odd topic for a blog. I’ve never seen one quite like it before. Why would I even choose to write about something as off-the-beaten-path as spirituality in children?
I just know how emotional I get when I hear stories about the triumph of the human spirit: a person saving someone’s life, an artist’s creation, kindness and goodness shown. I’m not the only one out there who is moved by that stuff. The seeds of these triumphs were planted long before they actually happened. We see them in children all the time, even in a newborn’s face.
From childhood I was aware there was a God. My mother swears this is true: She watched me out the front window of our duplex when as a four-year-old I suddenly stopped riding my bicycle and sat quietly on the bike seat with my hands folded. Later when she asked me what I was doing I told her I was talking to God.
As an adult, I have heard much discussion among parents about the ways their infants and young children are developing. What I’ve not heard much at all is conversation about the spiritual development of children. How does the human spirit develop and how can we see children through the lens of spirituality? Likely this area hasn’t been talked about as much because spirituality is such a difficult thing to “discuss.” It’s hard to pin down. It’s hard for people to agree on. It’s hard to articulate. And yet we usually know it when we see it.
What I hope to explore in this blog is how caregivers can play an important role in meeting the needs of a child’s human spirit. Given the well-known facts of human biology and psychology, parents meet the needs of their infant for nourishment, nurture, attachment, trust and security. Where I hope to focus is on how caregivers can also play an important role in meeting the needs of the child’s human spirit.
For example, just yesterday a friend told me her four-year-old son asked her—with open curiosity—“What does God do all day?” My friend really had to think about how to answer that. Even though she has her own beliefs about God, she’d never thought about that question.
If a four-year-old asked you that question, how would you answer it? What kind of internal response would you have?
A mother’s work is never done. The same could be said of a teacher. In this environment of budget cuts and layoffs, teachers often are called upon to be teacher, nurse, counselor, parent, custodian, judge/jury and cafeteria worker.
Entering a new school year, some parents and caregivers may not realize the combined frustrations and desires in the heart of their child’s teachers. As you read, maybe ideas will spark of how your human spirit can reach out to your child’s teachers this year.
I try to create an atmosphere of empathy and care. I spend a few minutes each day to create ‘teachable moments’ about how we treat one another and how our words and actions affect others. In other words, I’m teaching them the principle of how to treat your neighbor as yourself.
At some point, every child understands a moral directive and does the opposite. This is a defining moment in the child’s life.
to avoid unpleasant consequences?
I just know how emotional I get when I hear stories about the triumph of the human spirit: a person saving someone’s life, an artist’s creation, kindness and goodness shown. I’m not the only one out there who is moved by that stuff. The seeds of these triumphs were planted long before they actually happened. We see them in children all the time, even in a newborn’s face.
What I hope to explore in this blog is how caregivers can play an important role in meeting the needs of a child’s human spirit. Given the well-known facts of human biology and psychology, parents meet the needs of their infant for nourishment, nurture, attachment, trust and security. Where I hope to focus is on how caregivers can also play an important role in meeting the needs of the child’s human spirit.