Spiritual Parenting
In a world saturated with bad influences harmful to developing, impressionable
minds, it is vital to guide children. Their formative years only last
so long. The culture wars are raging and our kids are being sucked in at
earlier and earlier ages. They end up miserable and lonely adults with poor
social skills (but great video game skills <frown>). Do your children
a great service by teaching them to develop spirit, not just mind and body.
They’ll never forget the spiritual techniques and stories you teach them.
Start some family rituals — the magic material of childhood — and you can
bet your kids will come around regularly when grandchildren arrive some day!
Above all, don’t let your offspring be spiritually retarded.
Discussion
List for Esoteric “Alternative” Christian, Grail “Sacred
Union”, metaphysical homeschooling or non-homeschooling families,
parents and kids.
Visit our Eckhart Tolle for Kids Page for awesome Eckhart Tolle spiritual parenting advice, childrens book and book for teen-agers.
Books for Parents,
Grandparents
Spiritual Parenting by David Carroll
The author covers not only the spiritual education of children
but also discipline, teaching children how to use and understand their bodies,
spiritualizing the child’s environment (the child’s room, toys, reading,
and television and movie viewing), teaching children values and virtues (honesty,
patience, manners, forbearance, kindness), and teaching meditation to
children.
10 Principles for Spiritual Parenting:
Nurturing Your Child’s Soul by Mimi Doe, Marsha F. Walch
Also see Mimi Doe’s website
SpiritualParenting.com
and sign up for her monthly newsletter full of great ideas.
BESTSELLER:
Home Invasion: Protecting Your Family in a
Culture That’s Gone Stark Raving Mad, by Rebecca Hagelin. I really
like this book. It reveals tactics of the 24/7 onslaught of our perverse
media “MTV culture” and tells how you and I can WIN the culture war; win
for our children.
Celebrating the Great Mother : A Handbook of
Earth-Honoring Activities for Parents and Children, I own this book,
too, and it’s a favorite of the whole family, along with
Circle Round
Spiritual Stories for Children &
Teens
Stories are arguably the most effective and fun way to teach right from wrong.
It is from stories we learn about all aspects of life! All human
beings gain somehow from hearing or reading a religious / spiritual story,
even we old adults.
Audio Stories with a Spiritual Theme
Your Story Hour Dramatized stories
taken from sacred/secular history and true-life situations, build character
and equip today’s youth for life’s challenges and good decision-making. Your
Story Hour provides wholesome character-building entertainment for the whole
family.
Adventures in Odyssey These are Christian
based dramatized audio stories. You may happen to hear them on Christian
radio. They are not overly dogmatic, but get across well the principles of
honesty, gentleness of speech, avoiding jealousy, etc.
Storybooks
Collections of short stories to read to your kids — approximate ages
4-14
The Book of Virtues A Treasury of Great
Moral Stories edited by William J. Bennett Responsibility. Courage.
Compassion. Honesty. Friendship. Persistence. Faith. Everyone recognizes
these traits as essentials of good character. In order for our children to
develop such traits, we have to offer them examples of good and bad, right
and wrong. And the best places to find them are in great works of literature
and exemplary stories from history. Mr. Bennett has collected hundreds of
stories, an instructive and inspiring anthology that will help children
understand and develop character — and help adults teach them. From the
Bible to American history, from Greek mythology to English poetry, from fairy
tales to modern fiction, these stories are a rich mine of moral literacy,
a reliable moral reference point that will help anchor our children and ourselves
in our culture, our history, and our traditions — the sources of the ideals
by which we wish to live our lives.
The Moral Compass Stories for A Life’s
Journey edited by William Bennett The Moral Compass, the inspiring
and instructive companion volume to The Book of Virtues, offers many more
examples of good and bad, right and wrong, in great works from literature
and in exemplary stories from history. Organized by the stages along life’s
journey, these stories and poems serve as reference points on a moral compass,
guiding the reader through the ethical and spiritual challenges along the
pathway of life: leaving home, entering into marriage, easing the burdens
of others, nurturing one’s children, and fulfilling the obligations of
citizenship and leadership.
Read Aloud Celtic Myths and Legends Ten-Minute Teadings
from the World’s Best-Loved Literature by Joan C Verniero
Great Stories Remembered II edited by Joe Wheeler
Another sterling collection of tales, adventures, and
life experiences destined to become instant favorites.
Great Stories Remembered III edited by Joe Wheeler
More tales, adventures, and life experiences destined to become instant
favorites.
Great Stories Remembered edited by Joe Wheeler A classic
collection of quality family readings, original illustrations, discussion
questions, and detailed historical background are included. [Limited
availability]
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Books by Joy Berry:
Help
Me Be Good Series are highly recommended because of their
straightforward, to-the-point way of explaining to children the do’s and
don’ts of: |
To the left is the link to Amazon
offering the entire series. It is possible to find the books on-line new
or used elsewhere at a cheaper price, but finding all 26 books is a
challenge. |
Throwing Tantrums
Being a Bad Sport
Breaking Promises
Being Lazy
Being Forgetful
Tattling
Being Mean
Being Messy
Fighting
Being Bullied |
Being Selfish
Being Bossy
Interrupting
Being Wasteful
Snooping
Being Destructive
Showing Off
Whining
Overdoing It |
Being Careless
Teasing
Complaining
Being Greedy
Lying
Being Rude
Gossiping
Cheating
Stealing
Disobeying
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Spiritual Books
for Kids 12 and up
Chronicles of Narnia
by C.S. Lewis
The Lord of the Rings
by J.R.R. Tolkien
If you must have TV, you can take control with a Satellite
System
Our DishNetwork has spiritual stations (they call it the “religious” section)
and amazingly, the programs are not all fundamentalist Christian. The Angel1
Network is Christian, but not obnoxiously so. Some of the shows are downright
awesome and your children can learn bible stories (like you and I had to
learn) but without all the guilt tripping, turn or burn, and “are you saved!?!”
tactics of fundamentalists. Get the timeless religious stories
from the Holy Land (the cartoon versions are so cool!) without destroying
self-esteem or damaging the young psyche. Our DishNetwork also has an awesome arts section: museums, fine literature, musical composers, dance, cultural
arts, and learning channel type stations. Using the remote you can specifically
choose which channels can be flipped thru, skipping over any channels potentially harmful to developing human minds. Most
all the movie channels fit into the harmful category, although HBO Family
during the daytime is culturally great. Use the parental controls.
You deserve it. Rest a bit easier when the boob tube is on. Just
don’t let ’em have their own TV or computer in their room! Make screen-viewing of any kind — TV or YouTube — a family thing, like the “good old days” when we all plopped on the couch together to watch the Waltons or Little House on the Prairie. |
I know there are a gazillion more great ideas, books, and links that
are good for this page, so
tell me about it.
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Destroy your TV & YouTube!!
Hours and hours of unmonitored YouTube or TV watching is
the quickest way to waste a brain. Video and computer games are bad news, too. Kids can even get brain damage from all this screen-time. Like muscles, brains need exercise to thrive mentally and
spiritually.
We all know it, but if you want to hear an expert
say it, try these:
ScreenTime
Awareness provides information so people
can live healthier lives in functional families in vibrant
communities by taking control of the electronic media in their
lives, not allowing it to control them.
The
Impact of Television – A commentary/summary of a book by Tannis Macbeth
Williams, who did the famous “Notel” study in the seventies – good information
on this landmark research
Kill
Your Television Website by Ron Kaufman, journalist and teacher
Four Arguments For the Elimination Of
Television by Jerry Mander
Amazon reviewer says: The main idea I came away with was how telelvision
is essentially an advertsing medium designed to bring across the narrowest
view to the most amount of people. The advertsing dictates the content and
not vice versa. The Super Bowl is the most obvious example. The commercials
are the real show and the game itself is secondary. It is the same with other
shows, such as Friends, ER etc, but just subtle. Mr. Mander also explains
how even nature shows on PBS are the worst example of television, regulate
the experience to the subjective view of a camera lens and high production
values.
Plug-in Drug by Marie Winn
The author takes a compelling look at television’s impact on children and
the family. Winn’s classic study has been extensively updated to address
the new media landscape, including new sections on: computers, video games,
the VCR, the V-Chip and other control devices, TV programming for babies,
television and physical health, and gaining control of your TV.
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