Tips For Raising Spiritually-Minded Children In A Harsh World

by Art Gib

It's a scary world out there and its corruptive influences are a major concern for good parents everywhere, whether their family belongs to a specific religion or not. Raising spiritual-minded children is a challenge that takes dedication and hard work, but it's worth it. Here are some tips for parents.

-- Practice what you preach. Children of all ages can spot a hypocrite a mile away, and if you are teaching them one way but living another they will lose all confidence in you. If you want your children to be honest, upright, caring, and believe in a higher power, you must live that way yourself and put your words into action they can watch and emulate.

-- Find opportunities to teach all week long. This one is for Church- or Synagogue-goers: sometimes good people save all their religious talk and actions for the Sabbath instead of taking advantage of spiritual teaching moments that can happen at any time.

When the opportunity comes, grab it. Or create them yourself. For example, you and your children can help an overwrought mother get her groceries in the car. Or, you can offer to hold a crying baby in a check-out line to give her a much-needed break. Your children will be watching, and learning kindness and concern for others in everyday settings, and not just at Church.

-- Every family should formulate a mission plan or long-term goals and emphasize them in daily home living. An item might be: Our Family Believes In: fill in the blank. Or, When The Children Are Grown We Envision Them To Be: fill in the blank. The answers to these questions can be secular, of course, but there should be a spiritual component in them as well. When children get to be teenagers and are making decisions on their own, they will have a family ethic to draw strength from.

-- Be wary of the kind of entertainment your family enjoys. So much of TV programming, films, and music these days is degrading and depresses the natural joy found in children. They don't need to grow up too fast. Choose to watch uplifting films as much as possible, that emphasis spiritual values and the nobility of the human spirit.

-- Make it a habit for your family to look outside itself and serve others. Very few actions bring a family closer to God than being of service to fellow men. Children learn a spiritual selflessness that can rarely be learned any other way. They will see that it feels good to do for others, and that the world is a big place where they can make a difference.

Source: http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1544813