The Spirituality of Parenting
I mentioned last week that I’ve recently been introduced to Speaking of Faith, a public radio show that is available (free) on the Web. This week’s show is not to be missed by Mommies!
Here is the intro to the program, from the website:
“More and more people in our time are disconnected from religious institutions, at least for part of their lives. Others are religious and find themselves creating a family with a spouse from another tradition or no tradition at all. And the experience of parenting tends to raise spiritual questions anew. We sense that there is a spiritual aspect to our children’s natures and wonder how to support and nurture that. The spiritual life, our guest says, begins not in abstractions, but in concrete everyday experiences. And children need our questions as much as our answers.”
As Clara grows older, I struggle more and more with how best to introduce spirituality to her- and integrate it into our everyday experience- in an authentic, real way. The podcast provides a lot of really great ways to think about this. Tune in for yourself and let me know what you think!
April 5th, 2008 at 3:28 am
Thank you for passing on the Speaking of Faith podcasts. There is such a wealth of topics to select from. I reduced the years of podcasts down to ten and I’m now enjoying them one at a time.
Recently, last week in fact, I had one of the first long discussions with my children about God, religion, and religious institutions. Neither of them are baptized. Their parents were. We both follow an inner spiritual journey; one distanced from a institution or a spiritual community. It is really hard to know what, if anything, this does to the spiritual growth of our children.
Listening to them talk about God and spiritual beliefs made me very happy. For, the core of their ideas were more than just about show kindness and care, they were profoundly questioning.
April 5th, 2008 at 8:25 am
i LOVE SOF. it’s one of my favorites. I come from a very traditional evangelical background — so much of that I have left behind, but so much of it is still part of my spiritual life and now I find myself adding to that eastern beliefs and experiences at yoga. it’s a complex thing and then add parenting to it and how to share it with your kids and help them find a path….
April 5th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I have been wrestling with the same questions. Thank you for passing this along…
April 5th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Oh, you don’t know how timely this post is. We talk about this very topic in our home all of the time. Yet we both have no idea how to proceed with our girls. Thanks for the link. Checking it out tomorrow…
April 6th, 2008 at 8:17 am
This particular show originally aired in 2006. I’ve listened to it several times - it’s one of my favorites and so pertinent to me at this point in my life.