By Guest Blogger on April 21, 2010

Spirituality in Children

By Kelli Karanovich

Today, my children have spent most of the equinox playing in our front yard making “potions” in “caldrons” that my husband jokingly purchased for me because I often speak of practical magic. In my stepson’s mind, he’s simply throwing leaves in an out-of-use planter and mixing them with occasional splashes of his sister’s juice. At 21 months, my daughter is obliging her brother and speaking to me in her enchanting vocabulary of gibberish and expertly delivered phrases. In my opinion, listening to her is more momentous than hearing fairies sing, and I can’t begin to fathom the depths of her imagination. To complete the trio, the child growing in my womb kicks happily in response to his siblings’ antics. At least, this is what I imagine my youngest is up to. To some degree, all parenting is a tremendous guessing game. The same may be said for life.

Recently, one of my high school classmates passed away. She was 26 years old, divorced, and the mother of two young children. She had recently reconnected with several old friends through a new romance and her enrollment in technical school. No one knew she had cancer. When it spread to her brain, she was quick to go. In between playing with my children this weekend, I’ve found myself managing a barrage of messages regarding my friend’s death.

Everyone is searching for peace in some way or another—whether it be through reliving old memories, sharing poems they’ve developed to honor her life, or seeking details about the funeral. Of all the classmates they could contact, I’m not the most likely choice. There are others who had a much closer relationship with our late friend than I did. Yet, of all of us, I’m one of the few who has remained close to our hometown while managing to keep in touch with everyone else. I’ve also always been an unofficial go-to person for doling out spiritual advice and finding calm within chaos.

My reputation as a spiritual contact started in church. I loved literature and was usually eager to share my unconventional interpretations of traditional Bible verses. Fortunately, my Sunday school teachers were spiritually curious volunteers rather than seminary grads, so they welcomed virtually any comments that broke the silence of our tired-eyed group. As a result, I was encouraged to give voice to my questions and insights. The older I became, the more my open-minded approach to the Bible led to my eventual abandonment of it—at least as the all-knowing text some make it out to be. However, one idea from the Gospels has always stuck with me: Regardless of our origins or our future, we have God’s Holy Spirit inside us. Therefore, by knowing ourselves, we will always find God, whomever and whatever God may be.

Following the birth of my daughter, I became legally ordained as a minister, yet I still don’t affiliate myself with any one faith. Instead, I’ve dubbed myself a minister of spiritual living. And to suit my purposes, I’ve gone and redefined “spiritual living” as the art of embracing your personal energy so totally and completely that everything else about you is a reflection of who you really are.

As a mother, my goal is to create a lifestyle that will allow my children to know themselves and to live in a way that reflects this knowledge. I believe that this self-reliance gives more honor to God than any religion. However, I don’t require that my children or anyone else agree. Should self-knowledge lead them to Christianity, Buddhism, or another faith, that’s fine. The important thing to me is that it’s found through sincere self-exploration—not indoctrination, following the crowd, or the voice of false authority.

I periodically question whether my approach is best for them. However, moments like my classmate’s death remind me that even the most devout and faithful followers ultimately question their beliefs and seek guidance from rogues like me when faced with loss and unexpected situations. They wonder if what they’ve been brought up to believe is true and if they’re raising their children in a spiritually wholesome way. With that in mind, I’m reassured that it’s best for the children to decide for themselves what is and is not Godly.

Here are some steps I take to promote my children’s journey toward self-discovery and the awakening of the Divine within.

1. Take them outside. I agree with John Muir. Something is healing and balancing about nature. The intrigue and, later, respect that young people gain for the natural world ultimately translates into a greater sense of respect for themselves and their personal ideals. Nature-based play also stimulates creative and ultimately self-seeking thought processes in a way that hours spent in front of a television screen never will.

2. Generate an appreciation of art, literature, and music. Many great works are inspired by religion or unique spiritual beliefs. Therefore, discussing the works with your children can provide a non-threatening foundation for an in-depth discussion of people’s many perspectives of spirituality. As with nature-based play, enjoying art also stimulates higher-order thinking and can encourage children to express themselves in innovative ways through the creation of their own artistic compositions.

3. Expose them to other people. If the Divine is present within everyone, then interacting with a wide variety of people is a great way to examine the many facets of Divinity. This interaction can be carried out in a way that is safe, healthy, fulfilling, and educational by getting kids involved with community-based classes and volunteer organizations. The drive to expose your children to a variety of cultures may also be inspiration to travel or to start hosting regular social gatherings yourself.

Finally, remember: What’s good for children is also good for adults. Everyone alive is a traveler on an ongoing journey of spiritual self-discovery.

Kelli Karanovich manages A Quirky Mom’s Guide to the Good Life and Trust the Universe: Spirituality Meets Self-Empowerment, through which she offers the blog Mama’s Musings and provides a variety of unique online services related to natural parenting, spiritual living, and progressive education. She lives in northwest GA with her growing family.

 

 

   
 

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