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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Can we rename this thread "religious families - how to brainwash children"?[/quote]

Don't be obnoxious. [/quote]

There is an element of that in a lot of these posts. If you take out the religious context that "everyone" accepts as appropriate, and replace the religious elements with communist elements, we have:

Thread Title: [b]Do your children easily love [the Party]?[/b]

[quote]It was an every day, 24-7 sort of thing, not some boring thing that we attended for one hour every week, under duress. Also, in school, they weave all the [Party] lessons into everything, so again, it's not set aside as one boring hour a week when you have to go to [Party Class] with kids you do not even know, who do not go to your regular school. [/quote]

Or:

[quote]My children attend a [Party] program called [insert name]. The classroom setting is called the Atrium, so many people refer to it as that. My children have developed a relationship with [Dear Leader] at a very young age. it's much more personal than the classroom [Party] ed programs. [/quote]

Or:

[quote]Our [Local Party Chapter] is focused on the idea that to develop and sustain faith, you need roughly five adults (who are not you) pouring into & interacting with your child on a regular basis. I think the concept comes from a series of books called Orange & Parenting Beyond Your Capacity. This could be [Party Education] teachers, scout leaders, your own friends, a [Party] youth [representative], other adult volunteers with youth [Party], sports coaches who model good values, etc. Our [Party] youth [representative] also really emphasizes how much time children spend with parents vs. the [Party] - we can't expect our [Party] to do all of this spiritual development. Even if you're there for three events/week (unlikely for most families), that's only six hours out of the many more that parents spend with their kids. So talking about faith & modeling it at home is the first step, and then finding a community that will support and your sustain your efforts is the next most important thing.

I have a young child at this point, so it's easier talking about [Communism] with her at this stage of life. It permeates our home life...[/quote]

Or:

[quote]I want my children to love [Dear Leader]. I want them to be faithful [Party] boys and faithful [Party] men one day. I want this because I have very sincere beliefs that cause me to know that a strong faith has enriched my life in countless ways. I want them to be similarly enriched. So you may think it is weird that I want my kids to love [Dear Leader], but that is just a normal thing for people who truly believe. We want to share that belief. That belief brings us joy that we would never want to keep to ourselves. [/quote]

I'm not doing this to be obnoxious, and I do honestly think there's a difference between believing in God and being a devout Party member. Despite my saying that, I know that there are some people who are going to be insulted by the implicit comparison. I'm simply putting these words in a different belief context to show how they look when the authors aren't talking about religion, and they do have a significant element of indoctrination to them.

Now compare that to -

[quote]I would like for my kids to love and find comfort in [the Party], but know I do not control this - that I can only expose/introduce them to [Communism] in various ways. In raising them as I have ... my hope is that they develop enough of a "faith muscle" to enable them to seek out [the Party] on their own when they want or need that. I know from personal experience that faith waxes and wanes, but OTOH for me, the comfort of the liturgy, especially during difficult times, does not. I hope I have given them enough of a foundation that they seek this out for themselves as adults. [/quote]

That's respecting your kids, teaching them, and allowing them to make their own choices. [/quote][/quote]

I'm the PP whose post you quoted last.  I am glad to hear you think I'm taking the right approach.  The thing is, we cannot (and should not IMO) try to control our kids' spiritual lives.  We can only lay the foundation and show them how we approach our own spiritual lives.  My kids know that I pray, they know that I give thanks, they see and participate with me in religious observance.  They understand why I value it, even as they say (from time to time) that they do not.

Despite protests to the contrary, my older child is so interested in all things spiritual/religious that I would be surprised if he didn't participate in organized religion of some kind as an adult.  I don't know that he will be a Christian (he says Judaism makes more sense to him) but I think he will practice *something*.  He is very well-versed in religion generally.  If he does choose to practice as an adult, I will feel I have done my job in terms of giving him familiarity and comfort with religious rituals, communities and practices, all of which have served my needs in so many ways during my life.

You can't choose something from nothing.  You can only choose it from some basis.  My goal has been and is to give my kids that basis.  The rest is up to them.[/quote]

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