how do you talk about...

Halo79RN

God/Jesus/whatever you believe with your children? 

have questions come up?  

do you pray together regularly?

belong to a church? actually go regularly?

do you feel strongly in what you teach or are you a skeptic?  

Andrewsgal

God/Jesus/whatever you believe with your children? We are strong Christians, we tell her that we believe in God, and that Jesus was God's son and he died for our sins. We place a lot of emphisis on how God wants us to treat each other. We also talk to her about other religions and what they believe, although not as in depth as our Christian beliefs

have questions come up?  Yes it is such a big part of our life they do come up quite a bit, but nothing that I don't have the knowledge to answer, if those do come up one of my good friends is our Children's Minister and the husband of another good friend is our youth minister so I could defer to them

do you pray together regularly? Yes we start when the are babies it is part of our bedtime routine, we don't do a scripted prayer, we pray whatever we are feeling, we still pray for DS, but DD does it on her own with us there, we will also pray before meals and say prayers throughout teh day if we feel it is needed at the time (like when her Greatgrandfather died and she wanted to pray for Daddy because he was sad)

belong to a church? actually go regularly? We go Sunday mornings, to church and Sunday school, and Wednesday nights to bible studies, DH and I teach 2nd grade both wednesday and Sunday.

do you feel strongly in what you teach or are you a skeptic?  Dh and I both feel very strongly in what we believe and what we teach our kids, we try to live the life we preach and that to us is the most important.

lsufan

We are Christian, and we have discussed with our older two the basics of our faith... that God created us, that He loves us, that we are to reflect that love to everyone around us, etc.  They know the story of the crucifixion, but I doubt they really understand what it means.  We talk about Jesus, but DH once tried talking to DS1 about the Trinity and it pretty much went right over his head.  We have a storybook Bible that we read from some nights, so they are learning some of those stories.

Questions come up all the time with our oldest.  Right after he turned 4, he started asking a ton of questions about death.  Some of them catch me off guard, but mostly they provide a starting point for discussing faith. 

We do pray together, but not as often as we probably should.  We pray at meals and sometimes before bed.  It's tough for me, because I prefer to pray silently on my own, but that's not something the kids can learn from, so I do talk to them about why I pray, what prayer is, etc.  

We do go to church every week, and we're also part of a small group within our church that meets every Sunday night.  The other 5 families in our small group all have small kids, and we've become good friends over the past 4 years.  

We feel very strongly about what we believe.  While our kids will make their own decisions about faith when they're older, we do present the information as the truth and not as one of many options.

penguingrrl

We are fairly spiritual in that we believe there is a higher power and his/her/its existence is very important to us.  We have not discussed any of this with our children yet.  Our older daughter has occasionally gone to church with my aunt or my in laws, but I don't think she understands what's going on or pays any attention yet.  She has never asked about spirituality yet.  I believe strongly in spirituality, but having kids and thinking about returning to church "for the kids" made me reexamine my faith and realize it was in the higher power, not the man-made interpretations of that power.  I have no idea yet how we'll approach this with our kids.

I was the product of parents who did not believe themselves, but took us to church and had us make our sacraments (we were Catholic) because it was "the right thing to do."  All it left me believing as a child was that church was something for kids and adults didn't really believe in it  (my mother tried really hard, but  I figured it out from body language and other things, not something she ever said to me).  As an adult I have realized that I had that prejudice as a kid (it didn't occur to me I felt that way until fairly recently) and how incorrect an assumption that is. It has also helped me realize that organized religion is not something I personally believe in and I have no interest in perpetuating the family practice of pretending for the kids since I realize the kids catch on and it can really interfere with the lessons religion tries to teach.

I do plan to  introduce many of the world's religions to my children and explain that different people have different beliefs and if they choose to follow one they will have our full support.   We will also discuss that faith comes from within and there is no need for an external outlet if they don't want one.  We will also discuss our Catholic/Christian traditions since we do celebrate Christmas and Easter and I feel it's important for them to understand what they're celebrating (and that, no matter my spiritual beliefs in the matter, Jesus was a very important historical figure and that his beliefs and teachings radically changed the world)

Bellisimo

We read Bible stories A LOT.  We pray together A LOT.  We go to church when possible.  He went to a church based MDO program for three years and now goes to a private Kindergarten that teaches Christian values and Biblical scripture AND they pray at school.  He has also learned a tremendous amount from watching faith based movies/cartoons such as Veggie Tales, etc.  I understand that a lot of parents don't love tv/movies but it's been a great tool for our kids and has opened up a LOT of conversations on Christianity.  My son knows more about the Bible now than I did as a teen/young adult.  I get that it's not for everyone...but it IS an important part of our lives.  So, we're very open about it and answer any and all questions that arise to the best of our ability.  MH is way more knowledgeable about the Bible and Christianity (and ALL other faiths for that matter) than I am...so I sometimes defer some questions to him. 

Bellisimo

And totally not on the topic of teaching Christian values to our children, I have to add that I was totally moved by the movie "The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus"  No matter what you believe (or don't believe) it's certainly worth your time to sit down and watch this documentary.  Or read the book.

Zenya

We are defected catholics kind of drifting.  We recently started attending unitarian services so that we have something to frame for the kids.  We live in a very Jesus-centric area and I feel the need to 'arm' DS with some kind of knowledge and confidence before some freak tells him he's not Saved.

xbrooklyngrl

I'm Jewish and DH is Catholic. Neither of us are very religious so we explain things as they come. When I was a kid, I went to Yeshiva and questyioned EVERYTHING that was told to me. A lot of what I learned has turned me off but I am very spiritual and believe in God and pray all the time.

jlw2505

We are Jewish and the customs/traditions that we follow are just part of our lives.  The Jewish Community is very strong here and through donations, each of my kids gets a free book every month - the books are typically about Jewish Subjects - anything from the holidays, Shabbot, Jewish tales that have been past down.  We have gotten books on Israel.  They are all very age apporioate and really teach my kids.  The book we read last night was about kids in school making holiday decorations in class and the main character was the only one who was Jewish which is often the case and showed how she handled being different.  It is a great story.  We go to Tot Shabbat Services once a month, we celebrate all the major holidays.  My kids will start religious school when they are in Kindergarten.  We light Shabbat candles every week.  We don't really talk about G-D, just more about the traditions and the holidays.  We don't pray or anything like that on a daily basis.