Children's spiritual development is currently a hot topic in Christian circles, as well as in other fields and disciplines such as educational psychology, medicine, developmental psychology, education, and sociology. The key question for Christian scholars and educators is How do Christian beliefs and practices uniquely interrelate with children's spirituality? In 2003 and again in 2006, a national conference entitled Children's Spirituality Conference: Christian Perspectives examined children's spirituality from a distinctly Christian standpoint. This book is a collection of the best materials from the 2006 conference. The first half of the book addresses definitional, historical, and theological concerns related to spiritual development in children. The second half explores best practices for fostering spiritual growth among our children--in our homes, families, churches, Christian schools, and among special populations of children--from a wide spectrum of Christian scholars and practitioners. The volume closes with John Westerhoff's moving keynote address and Catherine Stonehouse and Scottie May's eloquent, culminating plenary address. Nurturing Children's Spirituality provides a rich cross section of the current research and writing by Christian scholars on children's spirituality. Contributors: Holly Catterton Allen, Michael J. Anthony, Stacy Berg, Chris J. Boyatzis, MaLesa Breeding, Marilyn Brownlee, Linda V. Callahan, Jane Carr, Mara Lief Crabtree, Karen Crozier, James Riley Estep Jr., Jeffrey E. Feinberg, Stephanie Goins, Judy Harris Helm, Dana Kennamer Hood, Sungwon Kim, Kevin Lawson, Scottie May, Marcia McQuitty, Heidi Schultz Oschwald, Donald Ratcliff, Pam Scranton, Timothy A. Sisemore, Catherine Stonehouse, La Verne Tolbert, T. Wyatt Watkins, John H. Westerhoff III
In a culture that has lost touch with love, compassion, and meaning, how can parents be intentional about building a spiritual foundation for their children’s development? In looking to their own upbringing for guidance, parents often feel even more at a loss—they don’t want to make the same mistakes their parents did, so they either become too strict, or they take a completely hands-off approach. A pastor, a teacher, and a mother, Karen Marie Yust offers a refreshing array of resources and provisions to guide and sustain parents and children on thier mutual journey. Drawn from a three-year study of children’s spirituality, as well as the best in theological tradition and literature, Real Kids, Real Faith provides insight and a variety of helpful tips for nurturing children’s spiritual and religious formation. Yust challenges the prevailing notion that children are unable to grasp religious concepts and encourages parents to recognize children as capable of authentic faith.
"What can you do to increase your child’s potential before he or she is born? And Is it possible to communicate with the soul of your unborn child? Nurturing Your Baby’s Soul offers essential insights into the inner life of the unborn child. It gives practical spiritual techniques and meditations you can use to help develop your baby’s unique gifts. This inspiring guide for spiritual parenting reveals how you can bond and communicate with your baby’s soul before birth, prepare yourself spiritually for parenting, improve your relationships and spiritualize your marriage. It also explores how you can practice prayer, meditation and affirmations for the conception and protection of that special soul you want to bring into your life, how you can use sound, music and art to transform the body, mind and soul of your unborn child, and how you can help your child reach their highest potential and fulfill their life’s mission. Includes charts, illustrations, recommended music selections, meditations, visualizations and affirmations."
The greatest gifts that a child can receive are an opened mind, a caring heart, and ignited creativity. This fully expanded, illustrated edition of Nurturing Spirituality in Children includes sixty-two simple and thought-provoking lessons that can be shared with children in less than ten minutes each. The lessons are easy to prepare and understand; they use commonly available materials and complement a wide variety of religious perspectives. Children who develop a healthy balance of mind and spirit are better able to respond to life's challenges when given the tools to think and discover for themselves. Dr. Jenkins gives scores of age-appropriate activities that help children learn empathy, trust, forgiveness, growth, and inner peace.
Rachel Turner offers simple, everyday approaches for parents to help their babies and toddlers connect with the God who knows them, sowing seeds of faith for the future.
Nurturing the Human Spirit through Character Development in Adolescents was designed to discover and develop the spiritual nature of our adolescents by assisting them in discerning and constructing positive character-building skills. By familiarizing them to their own and other religious beliefs and practices, the adolescents will be able to more easily accommodate themselves to their diverse neighborhoods and schools. By understanding their peers’ religious and social practices, a common underlying tension is removed from their daily lives, enabling them to better learn in an educational setting.
Nurturing Child and Adolescent Spirituality: Perspectives from the World's Religious Traditions provides a forum for prominent religious scholars to examine the state of religious knowledge and theological reflection on spiritual development in childhood and adolescence. Featuring essays from thinkers representing the world's major religious traditions, the book introduces new voices, challenges assumptions, raises new questions, and broadens the base of knowledge and investment in this important domain of life. Nurturing Child and Adolescent Spirituality will set the stage for new waves of scholarship and dialogue within and across traditions, disciplines, and cultures that will enrich understanding and strengthen how the world's religious traditions, and others, understand and cultivate the spiritual lives of children and adolescents around the globe.
As a parent, you can easily teach your children the basic skills they will need in life, from reading to swimming to computer literacy. But how do you nurture a sense of spirituality? Something More offers parents of all faiths, even those who don't consider themselves religious, everyday ways to make family life more meainginful. Jean Grasso Fitzpatrick reminds us that spiritual nurturing is not something we "do" to our child but is a journey that parent and child take together. This powerful book integrates spiritual insights, current child-development theory, and, in their own words, the experiences of parents. It features advice on how to answer your child's often difficult questions on everything from death to religious holidays to homelessness and includes lists of suggested books, music, and videos that will help you explore your own and your child's spirituality. Written in language that will touch the hearts of today's mothers and fathers, Something More is a very different kind of parenting book, one that parents will keep and treasure.