Pagan Parenting- Raising your Children pagan?

[Lady Anastasia]

Raising your children pagan? Isnt' this the same thing as imposing your beliefs on another individual?

[Coyote]

Interesting question, I look forward to the responses.

[Shuvanni]

I personally think that when it comes time to have children I want to allow them the chance to investigate and learn about all faiths. I was lucky as a child not to feel pressure towards any belief really. My grandmother taught me about magick but never really pushed it.. She taught me alot about thinking for myself. I hope that I can do as good a job as she did.

[Moonsmith]

Sure it is....But that is part of the parents job....Children initially get their cues from their parents, specifically the mother first and the father secondarily. One can only hope the beliefs impressed aren't too traumatic for the little tikes....(:P)

[Lady Anastasia]

lol


Moonsmith said:

Sure it is....But that is part of the parents job....Children initially get their cues from their parents, specifically the mother first and the father secondarily. One can only hope the beliefs impressed aren't too traumatic for the little tikes....(:P)

[Poisoned Spoon]

I don't approve of brainwashing kids with any kind of religion but I think there are some people who just don't know how not to. I have seen little girls forced to go topless at Pagan Events and when they complained their parents (yep, multiple occasions) pretty much said, "Too bad, we're Pagan." I have also seen people yell at teens for not telepathically knowing the minutia of their particular brand of Paganism when they make a mistake; as if the shit some people make up and call religion should be common knowledge.

So on the one hand the way the Neo-Pagan world is set up sort of requires a working knowledge of a lot of different Neo-Pagan and craft customs. To not educate your children about the world that you are involved in makes them an ignorant target, doomed to make mistakes of etiquette. But there are also some things that a child should not be forced to do. And they're kids... they generally trust the adults around them to not hang them out to dry. A lot of Neo-Pagan practices and beliefs are irrational and illogical. If you teach them these things will they later accuse you of lying to them?

I hope that other parents just try to give their kids the best education possible while being honest, loving and considerate. I say teach human values before religious values and involve them in age appropriate ways.

~*Spoon*~

[Donna]

While I certainly try my best to not impose my beliefs on anyone, including my children, I am sure that some of what I believe rubs off. Like my thirst for knowledge, my sense of justice for all, etc... As a child I wanted to learn everything about human nature--theology always fascinated me. I was raised Southern Baptist, on my dad's side, and Catholic on my mothers. I have an uncle who is a bishop, one a priest, one who was a monk but left the monestary--and two others who were in the seminary. (How Catholic can you get?) My father refused to go to church, as he was forced as a child, so I followed the neighbors and went to church on my own. I started reading about different religions, going to different churches with my friends. The more I learned the more I wanted to know. I questioned everything. My children have the same quality. They want to understand why people feel the way they do, what makes them tick.

Lala knows Faith, my daughter. She is truly her own person in so many ways. She developed her Chrisitian faith, obviously not due to my influence, but rather due to the influence of those around her--i.e., friends, teachers, other family. Yet like me, she has started to question everything. While I try not to impose my beliefs on her, I do not shy away from them either. If she ask my opinion on something--I give it, honestly. And if she does not agreee with it--I don't tell her she's wrong--just explain why I don't agree. I want her to find her own way, as I have found mine. I support her in her faith--even going to her plays and singing events at her church. My feeling is that anything that brings her soul peace and happiness I am all for. That being said--I have seen her turning more and more away from Christianity; seeing it for the farce that it is. And yes, privately I do the happy dance. ;-)

[Gorm Sionnach]

I largely agree with Tom, is imposing a cultural outlook forcing something on a child? I do not think it is. I suppose that if you're raising your children to be polytheists, then at least they will have a more open mind about other religions.

I also suppose that regardless of how secularized western society has become, the predmoniant cultural outlook where religion is concerned is Christanity, and there exists a defacto "if you're religious, or when people say they are religious, they mean Christian." Clearly there is a demographic shift away from such assumptions, but it kind of stands that if you don't teach your kids about religion they'll get info about it somewhere else, and then what?

Think about it, some manic street preacher handing out filthy tracts to your innocent and unsuspecting kids? The Christian Media doesn't want you to know about the dangers of religious indoctrination, but they lurk on every corner and pulpit, just waiting for a naieve Pagan parent to become lapse, and then Wham, little Branwynn and Thorlief are trading tracts. And we all know tracts are a gateway to getting "saved". After that, they won't be your kinds anymore...

Won't somebody please think of the children?

[Poisoned Spoon]

Are you being serious? If you raise your children to be polytheists then they'll be more open minded with Mom and Dad bashing Christianity constantly? Do you think they won't notice? Or worse yet that kids will think its ok to be prejudice against Christians but not against people of other religions? If you weren't being funny then... wow you just spouted two contradictory things in the same post. Fear mongering won't get you anywhere with me. We call your last sentence, "Argumentum Ad Matum" or "Argument of Fear." Its an appeal to fear and not a rational statement. Raise your kids Pagan or the evil Christians will get them! That's either really funny or really sad. Which one were you going for?

~*Spoon*~

Gorm Sionnach said:

I largely agree with Tom, is imposing a cultural outlook forcing something on a child? I do not think it is. I suppose that if you're raising your children to be polytheists, then at least they will have a more open mind about other religions.

I also suppose that regardless of how secularized western society has become, the predmoniant cultural outlook where religion is concerned is Christanity, and there exists a defacto "if you're religious, or when people say they are religious, they mean Christian." Clearly there is a demographic shift away from such assumptions, but it kind of stands that if you don't teach your kids about religion they'll get info about it somewhere else, and then what?

Think about it, some manic street preacher handing out filthy tracts to your innocent and unsuspecting kids? The Christian Media doesn't want you to know about the dangers of religious indoctrination, but they lurk on every corner and pulpit, just waiting for a naieve Pagan parent to become lapse, and then Wham, little Branwynn and Thorlief are trading tracts. And we all know tracts are a gateway to getting "saved". After that, they won't be your kinds anymore...

Won't somebody please think of the children?

[Gorm Sionnach]

I was, in fact, joking (at least in the last paragraph). I figured the over the top tone of the last bit would be enough, maybe a smiley would have been a better indicator (POE's law in effect).

Yes well, clearly if people are going to be railing against Christanity while preaching their own commitment to tolerance, then that would make them hypocrites.

[Gorm Sionnach]

Perhaps it would have been better to have seperated my more serious posts from the parody, at least for the sake of clarity.

[Poisoned Spoon]

I thought it was very funny. Perhaps you should take it as a compliment to your abilities with dead pan?

~*Spoonie*~

Gorm Sionnach said:

Perhaps it would have been better to have seperated my more serious posts from the parody, at least for the sake of clarity.

[Gorm Sionnach]

In the interest of humour, I try to not be nudge, nudgeing, somehow posting a smiley or wink at the end robs it of some of its potency...

But then again according to Poes law, if there is no indication (via a wink, smiley, /sarcasam, or stating of a parodic nature) it is impossible to tell a parody from the real thing.