Best way to teach kids about religion

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:or what about if the kids ask, "Did that really happen?" when you tell a story about a prince's kiss or an ancient flood or someone rising from the dead.

Would you always say something like "That's a story with some wisdom in it" or would you say "some people think it's true, but I don't"?

My typical response is: "what do you think?" and "some people might think this happened."

But by the time they were asking this questions we weren't reading too many princess type books (fortunately that was a short phase!).

Thanks -- what if they started to believe something you really thought was harmful -- whatever that may be -- like they needed to be kissed by a prince in order to live happily ever after or needed to join a particular religion in order to achieve eternal life?

"Oh really?! Huh, that's interesting" and then we would move back to non-fiction or something light like Magic Treehouse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:or what about if the kids ask, "Did that really happen?" when you tell a story about a prince's kiss or an ancient flood or someone rising from the dead.

Would you always say something like "That's a story with some wisdom in it" or would you say "some people think it's true, but I don't"?

My typical response is: "what do you think?" and "some people might think this happened."

But by the time they were asking this questions we weren't reading too many princess type books (fortunately that was a short phase!).

Thanks -- what if they started to believe something you really thought was harmful -- whatever that may be -- like they needed to be kissed by a prince in order to live happily ever after or needed to join a particular religion in order to achieve eternal life?

"Oh really?! Huh, that's interesting" and then we would move back to non-fiction or something light like Magic Treehouse.

Kind of acknowledging it and brushing it off at the same time and assuming there will be no serious consequences, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:or what about if the kids ask, "Did that really happen?" when you tell a story about a prince's kiss or an ancient flood or someone rising from the dead.

Would you always say something like "That's a story with some wisdom in it" or would you say "some people think it's true, but I don't"?

Well, it depends on the depth of your knowledge or your desire to research. There are some strong evidence that the remains of Noah's ark were found near Ararat. It will be a good opportunity to talk with the child about geography, history and archaeology. You can tell him you don't believe it. But are you in a possession of the entire information to make that conclusion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:or what about if the kids ask, "Did that really happen?" when you tell a story about a prince's kiss or an ancient flood or someone rising from the dead.

Would you always say something like "That's a story with some wisdom in it" or would you say "some people think it's true, but I don't"?

My typical response is: "what do you think?" and "some people might think this happened."

But by the time they were asking this questions we weren't reading too many princess type books (fortunately that was a short phase!).

So you see, there were no harm done to your child when you didn't discuss your believes within the prince/princess context. The child learned his lesson and moved on. I would approach the bible stories the same way, without inserting your agenda/belief. If the child begin to question the validity of the story, let them do the research. Take them to the library, learn more about that historical time period. I think this is what the purpose of education, to create a curious mind that always searching for answers, instead of indoctrinate the young brain one way or another.

At some point of life you child figured out the whole prince Charming deal. The same will happens with the Bible story -- eventually they will figure out (one way or another). But the lesson they learn will be priceless. For me personally, I am not determined that my child when he/she grow up, comes to the same conclusion as I did. Even if he/she ends up on a totally opposite side regarding religion, it is his/her path.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:or what about if the kids ask, "Did that really happen?" when you tell a story about a prince's kiss or an ancient flood or someone rising from the dead.

Would you always say something like "That's a story with some wisdom in it" or would you say "some people think it's true, but I don't"?

Well, it depends on the depth of your knowledge or your desire to research. There are some strong evidence that the remains of Noah's ark were found near Ararat. It will be a good opportunity to talk with the child about geography, history and archaeology. You can tell him you don't believe it. But are you in a possession of the entire information to make that conclusion?

That would go for any belief -- in that beliefs don't need to be fact-based. Beliefs can be totally feeling-based or a combination of facts and feelings - and interpretations of facts and feelings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:or what about if the kids ask, "Did that really happen?" when you tell a story about a prince's kiss or an ancient flood or someone rising from the dead.

Would you always say something like "That's a story with some wisdom in it" or would you say "some people think it's true, but I don't"?

Well, it depends on the depth of your knowledge or your desire to research. There are some strong evidence that the remains of Noah's ark were found near Ararat. It will be a good opportunity to talk with the child about geography, history and archaeology. You can tell him you don't believe it. But are you in a possession of the entire information to make that conclusion?

There is also strong evidence that there was no world-wide flood and that the Noah's Ark story is one of several ancient flood stories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:or what about if the kids ask, "Did that really happen?" when you tell a story about a prince's kiss or an ancient flood or someone rising from the dead.

Would you always say something like "That's a story with some wisdom in it" or would you say "some people think it's true, but I don't"?

My typical response is: "what do you think?" and "some people might think this happened."

But by the time they were asking this questions we weren't reading too many princess type books (fortunately that was a short phase!).

So you see, there were no harm done to your child when you didn't discuss your believes within the prince/princess context. The child learned his lesson and moved on. I would approach the bible stories the same way, without inserting your agenda/belief. If the child begin to question the validity of the story, let them do the research. Take them to the library, learn more about that historical time period. I think this is what the purpose of education, to create a curious mind that always searching for answers, instead of indoctrinate the young brain one way or another.

At some point of life you child figured out the whole prince Charming deal. The same will happens with the Bible story -- eventually they will figure out (one way or another). But the lesson they learn will be priceless. For me personally, I am not determined that my child when he/she grow up, comes to the same conclusion as I did. Even if he/she ends up on a totally opposite side regarding religion, it is his/her path.

This assumes that there is more validity to Bible stories than there are to the other stories your child is reading. True, some people think that, but if you're a non-believer exposing your child to many different kinds of stories, why send them to the library to validate Bible stories -- assuming you wouldn't do the same with Aesop's fables and Grimm's fairy tales?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:or what about if the kids ask, "Did that really happen?" when you tell a story about a prince's kiss or an ancient flood or someone rising from the dead.

Would you always say something like "That's a story with some wisdom in it" or would you say "some people think it's true, but I don't"?

My typical response is: "what do you think?" and "some people might think this happened."

But by the time they were asking this questions we weren't reading too many princess type books (fortunately that was a short phase!).

So you see, there were no harm done to your child when you didn't discuss your believes within the prince/princess context. The child learned his lesson and moved on. I would approach the bible stories the same way, without inserting your agenda/belief. If the child begin to question the validity of the story, let them do the research. Take them to the library, learn more about that historical time period. I think this is what the purpose of education, to create a curious mind that always searching for answers, instead of indoctrinate the young brain one way or another.

At some point of life you child figured out the whole prince Charming deal. The same will happens with the Bible story -- eventually they will figure out (one way or another). But the lesson they learn will be priceless. For me personally, I am not determined that my child when he/she grow up, comes to the same conclusion as I did. Even if he/she ends up on a totally opposite side regarding religion, it is his/her path.

An issue with some branches religion, is that there are strong societal forces (at least right now) encouraging kids to believe as fact some things (e.g., gay sex is an abomination, non-Christians suffer forever in hell) that some parents view as quite harmful, and not just a different path. Parents teach kids to avoid other behaviors and lifestyle choices that they consider dangerous. It seems that some religious choices would be included as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:or what about if the kids ask, "Did that really happen?" when you tell a story about a prince's kiss or an ancient flood or someone rising from the dead.

Would you always say something like "That's a story with some wisdom in it" or would you say "some people think it's true, but I don't"?

Well, it depends on the depth of your knowledge or your desire to research. There are some strong evidence that the remains of Noah's ark were found near Ararat. It will be a good opportunity to talk with the child about geography, history and archaeology. You can tell him you don't believe it. But are you in a possession of the entire information to make that conclusion?

That would go for any belief -- in that beliefs don't need to be fact-based. Beliefs can be totally feeling-based or a combination of facts and feelings - and interpretations of facts and feelings.

This is not true to the Christianity. Jesus command you to seek the knowledge and to find the truth by yourself. If you don't believe, do your research. If you are so fact conscious, do a research on finding the remaining of Noah's ark, for example, before reading it to the child. Or visit Jordan and Israel after you read some of the stories. You will find a lot of locations described in those stories are still there. My kids loved those trips.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:or what about if the kids ask, "Did that really happen?" when you tell a story about a prince's kiss or an ancient flood or someone rising from the dead.

Would you always say something like "That's a story with some wisdom in it" or would you say "some people think it's true, but I don't"?

My typical response is: "what do you think?" and "some people might think this happened."

But by the time they were asking this questions we weren't reading too many princess type books (fortunately that was a short phase!).

So you see, there were no harm done to your child when you didn't discuss your believes within the prince/princess context. The child learned his lesson and moved on. I would approach the bible stories the same way, without inserting your agenda/belief. If the child begin to question the validity of the story, let them do the research. Take them to the library, learn more about that historical time period. I think this is what the purpose of education, to create a curious mind that always searching for answers, instead of indoctrinate the young brain one way or another.

At some point of life you child figured out the whole prince Charming deal. The same will happens with the Bible story -- eventually they will figure out (one way or another). But the lesson they learn will be priceless. For me personally, I am not determined that my child when he/she grow up, comes to the same conclusion as I did. Even if he/she ends up on a totally opposite side regarding religion, it is his/her path.

This assumes that there is more validity to Bible stories than there are to the other stories your child is reading. True, some people think that, but if you're a non-believer exposing your child to many different kinds of stories, why send them to the library to validate Bible stories -- assuming you wouldn't do the same with Aesop's fables and Grimm's fairy tales?

It is exactly opposite: you should not assume the validity of one story or another. If your child questions any of the stories you are reading to them, it would help to provide them with as much information as you can. And if you are non-believer, more likely you have very limited information on the history and development of Buddhism, for example. If child questions Grimm's fairy tale stories, there are tons of the literature about the background of most of the fairy tales. Why not
to seek that? It is not about validating that story. It is about learning what inspired Grimms to write it, what was the underlying story, was it based on some local historical events? This is what the curious mind should be seeking, not the validation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:or what about if the kids ask, "Did that really happen?" when you tell a story about a prince's kiss or an ancient flood or someone rising from the dead.

Would you always say something like "That's a story with some wisdom in it" or would you say "some people think it's true, but I don't"?

My typical response is: "what do you think?" and "some people might think this happened."

But by the time they were asking this questions we weren't reading too many princess type books (fortunately that was a short phase!).

So you see, there were no harm done to your child when you didn't discuss your believes within the prince/princess context. The child learned his lesson and moved on. I would approach the bible stories the same way, without inserting your agenda/belief. If the child begin to question the validity of the story, let them do the research. Take them to the library, learn more about that historical time period. I think this is what the purpose of education, to create a curious mind that always searching for answers, instead of indoctrinate the young brain one way or another.

At some point of life you child figured out the whole prince Charming deal. The same will happens with the Bible story -- eventually they will figure out (one way or another). But the lesson they learn will be priceless. For me personally, I am not determined that my child when he/she grow up, comes to the same conclusion as I did. Even if he/she ends up on a totally opposite side regarding religion, it is his/her path.

An issue with some branches religion, is that there are strong societal forces (at least right now) encouraging kids to believe as fact some things (e.g., gay sex is an abomination, non-Christians suffer forever in hell) that some parents view as quite harmful, and not just a different path. Parents teach kids to avoid other behaviors and lifestyle choices that they consider dangerous. It seems that some religious choices would be included as well.

I don't think any of the Bible stories discuss branches of religion. If there is one, could you please cite it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:. Even if he/she ends up on a totally opposite side regarding religion, it is his/her path.

An issue with some branches religion, is that there are strong societal forces (at least right now) encouraging kids to believe as fact some things (e.g., gay sex is an abomination, non-Christians suffer forever in hell) that some parents view as quite harmful, and not just a different path. Parents teach kids to avoid other behaviors and lifestyle choices that they consider dangerous. It seems that some religious choices would be included as well.

Can you specify which story exactly (from any religion) you find harmful for the child?

Following your logic about teaching to avoid other behaviors and lifestyles, do you think a Snow White can be potentially damaging because it teaches about young lady sharing the house with 7 men? Or Beauty and the Beast because it teaches disobeying the parent? Do you consider dangerous for the child to walk along in the woods and talk to the stranger, therefore you would never read to him/her Red Riding Hood?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:or what about if the kids ask, "Did that really happen?" when you tell a story about a prince's kiss or an ancient flood or someone rising from the dead.

Would you always say something like "That's a story with some wisdom in it" or would you say "some people think it's true, but I don't"?

My typical response is: "what do you think?" and "some people might think this happened."

But by the time they were asking this questions we weren't reading too many princess type books (fortunately that was a short phase!).

So you see, there were no harm done to your child when you didn't discuss your believes within the prince/princess context. The child learned his lesson and moved on. I would approach the bible stories the same way, without inserting your agenda/belief. If the child begin to question the validity of the story, let them do the research. Take them to the library, learn more about that historical time period. I think this is what the purpose of education, to create a curious mind that always searching for answers, instead of indoctrinate the young brain one way or another.

At some point of life you child figured out the whole prince Charming deal. The same will happens with the Bible story -- eventually they will figure out (one way or another). But the lesson they learn will be priceless. For me personally, I am not determined that my child when he/she grow up, comes to the same conclusion as I did. Even if he/she ends up on a totally opposite side regarding religion, it is his/her path.

An issue with some branches religion, is that there are strong societal forces (at least right now) encouraging kids to believe as fact some things (e.g., gay sex is an abomination, non-Christians suffer forever in hell) that some parents view as quite harmful, and not just a different path. Parents teach kids to avoid other behaviors and lifestyle choices that they consider dangerous. It seems that some religious choices would be included as well.

I don't think any of the Bible stories discuss branches of religion. If there is one, could you please cite it.

the issues cited above (gay sex is an abomination, non-Christians suffer forever in hell) are not bible stories, but some Christian denominations cite them as being in the Bible and therefore as reasons not to have gay sex and not to sin.

As for the Bible not citing "branches of religion," the new testament was written before Christian denominations were formed. It's the members of those denomination who later determined that the other denominations were wrong about one thing or another, so broke off. The first example is Luther breaking off from Catholicism. There have been many Protestant denominations since then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

the issues cited above (gay sex is an abomination, non-Christians suffer forever in hell) are not bible stories, but some Christian denominations cite them as being in the Bible and therefore as reasons not to have gay sex and not to sin.

As for the Bible not citing "branches of religion," the new testament was written before Christian denominations were formed. It's the members of those denomination who later determined that the other denominations were wrong about one thing or another, so broke off. The first example is Luther breaking off from Catholicism. There have been many Protestant denominations since then.

Then just leave those issues alone when you are reading Bible stories (we are talking about Bible stories adopted for children reading). Do you bring gay sex issue when you read to your child about seven dwarfs or Bremen's musicians too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:. Even if he/she ends up on a totally opposite side regarding religion, it is his/her path.

An issue with some branches religion, is that there are strong societal forces (at least right now) encouraging kids to believe as fact some things (e.g., gay sex is an abomination, non-Christians suffer forever in hell) that some parents view as quite harmful, and not just a different path. Parents teach kids to avoid other behaviors and lifestyle choices that they consider dangerous. It seems that some religious choices would be included as well.

Can you specify which story exactly (from any religion) you find harmful for the child?

Following your logic about teaching to avoid other behaviors and lifestyles, do you think a Snow White can be potentially damaging because it teaches about young lady sharing the house with 7 men? Or Beauty and the Beast because it teaches disobeying the parent? Do you consider dangerous for the child to walk along in the woods and talk to the stranger, therefore you would never read to him/her Red Riding Hood?
But that's exactly why those stories were written: to teach lessons. Hansel & Gretel/Little Red--don't stray from the path & trust strangers. Snow White/Beauty & the Beast--kindness will get you everywhere. The Little Mermaid (HCA version)--don't give up what makes you you, just listen to your heart & jump into love, all of those things lead to death-by-the sea.

The original versions were oral tales told to children, usually in a gruesome way, to teach them about the world. And so goes many religious tales if you're a non-literalist or non-believer.