Raising Children with Faith

"You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life." - Steve Jobs

While surfing the web, looking for good sites to feature in our newsletter, I happened upon a very interesting discussion on a site (lost it or I’d have linked it for the source) that had a discussion going on raising children with or without faith. The discussion became heated, with both faith-based parents and non-faith-based parents speaking out. The concept of faith can stir strong feelings.

The discussion got me thinking about the various ideas and theories thrown about, from a non-believer exclaiming that parents were teaching their children to trust “an imaginary friend” to a minister who tried to identify just exactly what faith was and why we needed it.

It’s taken me a while to compose this article because I had mixed feelings stirring. Here’s my take after letting the ideas stew and cook a bit:

I concluded that I am most definitely a person of “faith.” Whether that is your exact faith or my dog’s idea of faith, doesn’t matter. I just have great faith in something and yes, I have absolutely raised my kids to have faith. Not necessarily one type of faith either. My children have learned my idea of faith and they’ve gone to Christian and Catholic schools where they have learned different meanings of faith, however, they have been exposed to the idea of faith and have had limited exposure to those with no faith (such as the invisible friend commenter). My children’s father is a man who does not look at life with any faith-based beliefs. Although he’s a good and intelligent man who I trust one hundred percent with our children, he lives with different ideas and so my children have had a diverse upbringing in the matter of faith.

The discussion on the other site deteriorated because the anonymous posters were more interested in shoving their ideas down each other’s throats instead of trying to understand a point of view different from their own.

I came away feeling that I would absolutely suggest raising children with faith as opposed to raising children to believe that "there’s nothing out there and we just live and die and that’s what life is all about."

Faith is actually the pinnacle of hope and optimism. I think we can all agree that a child who has an optimistic outlook is considered happier than one who has a cynical or negative outlook on life.

I would love your ideas and opinions on this topic! It’s an important parenting issue that hasn’t really been addressed anywhere with a variety of opinions. Sure, your church will discuss this issue plenty, although that is not an unbiased discussion, which is what I think is necessary to help parents everywhere (me included!) try to understand  what it means to raise a healthy-minded, strong-of-spirit, happy and productive child.

Without further input, I’ve come to the conclusion that a child is better off and will have a better life if raised with faith. If only taught to have faith in themselves, kids will have a way to accept life’s moments of difficulty, find joy and maintain gratitude at life’s beautiful moments. Having faith can also instill confidence in children, which is hugely important for a good life.

These are my ideas on the subject. Please share yours, no matter how strong, simple or different. Parenthood is almost impossible without help and we can help each other untangle the complexities of what and how to teach our children by sharing ideas and building a “think tank” of concerned participants. I know you are all articulate and smart enough to have your own ideas and sharing them will create an interesting discussion. Please share your ideas with me and your fellow readers: mailto:rexanne@rexanne.com?subject=Site-Visitor (FAITH)

© Rexanne Mancini 2008

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Rexanne Mancini is the mother of two daughters, Justice and Liberty. She is a novelist:The Catasy, freelance writer and maintains an extensive yet informal parenting and family web site, Rexanne.com – http://www.rexanne.com -Visit her site for good advice, award-winning Internet holiday pages and some humor to help you cope. Subscribe to her free newsletter, Rexanne’s Web Review, for a monthly dose of Rexanne: http://www.rexanne.com/rwr-archives.html

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