A change in perspective.....

As many of you (if not all of you ) know, I am a new father.

It got me thinking.

I've always been a "live and let live" guy.

When raising kids, I don't know if you can take such a stand off approach and let them decide.

I'm not going to make them decide, of course, and I'm not going to get upset at them if they decide a different way, but I need to present information in a manner so that it gets across, if nothing else because the Christians aren't going to adopt a live and let live position just for me.

any ideas how I can do this?

I wrote Kindertales because what I needed for my kids was not out there. Use the old stories, there are lots of versions out there. Stories are the ways we teach our view of the world. When they are small, it is just telling them to illustrate. As they get older, there is discussion as well.
Watch with your kids, regular movies and TV. Discuss with them the choices made, consequences. What we teach is how to ask the question, how to look at the choices. We are not given a rule book of answers, we are taught how to question, and what values to consider in answering it for ourselves. Teach them that.
One of my daughters is rebelling as a Catholic, but you should hear her go off on the subject of their pro-life harassment of abortion clinics or intollerance towards homosexuals. She may have strayed from the home alters, but she is doing so in a thoroughly heathen way, that permits no god to comprimise the honour of her ancestors or her name.
My youngest if a good heathen girl, but both have a morality, and a decision making process that was forged on the tales of our ancestors, whose understanding of kin, duty, honour are indistinguishable from the daughters of the Volsungs.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about kindertales. Ya know, the new dad fog. I have to admit, I'm not as good with the words as you are. Did you get it published?

Freyr's Press

Two whole volumes worth. Probably enough material to do another one, honestly. But two we published. One of the stories was turned into a play and produced at East Coast Thing by and for the Heathen Children of the NorthEast.

I'm not yet blessed enough to be a parent, but I have every intention of becoming one. So keeping in mind that "people who don't have kids always seem to think they know what the eff they are talking about, when it comes to parenting", you have a fairly dichotomous situation.

1. You teach your kid about your religion, and that of others.
2. Your kid absorbs cultural Christianity through osmosis, and maybe learns about other religions through interactions with other kids, kids parents, school, etc.

Pagans/Heathens/Polytheists, if they want their kids to not view their parents religion as weird, really need to, if nothing else, normalize the view for the kids perspective. Chances are most of the kids they will be befriending at school will not be other Heathens kids (though it is not impossible), and so they will need some element of support in the face of those children who may be more voiceferous about their religion.

I think John hit the nail on the head with stressing the importance of instilling a specific set of values, whatever they may be, as the best way forward. Certainly exposing your son to Heathen tales, or if not available, media and stories which contain relatable values.

Just some of my thoughts on the subject

allthegoodnamesweretaken wrote:As many of you (if not all of you ) know, I am a new father.

OHMYGOD CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

allthegoodnamesweretaken wrote:It got me thinking.

I've always been a "live and let live" guy.

When raising kids, I don't know if you can take such a stand off approach and let them decide.

I'm not going to make them decide, of course, and I'm not going to get upset at them if they decide a different way, but I need to present information in a manner so that it gets across, if nothing else because the Christians aren't going to adopt a live and let live position just for me.

any ideas how I can do this?

You bet. There are three very useful steps to protecting your child from indoctrination:

A) show your child total, unconditional love

B) provide enough room to experiment and grow as is safely possible (freedom within reason)

B) encourage critical thinking

Sometimes when we parent, we just want peace... we want our kids to mindlessly conform. It is very challenging to raise a questioning human. While there are certainly areas kids must obey (not running into the path of oncoming cars, for example), there's lots of room to question, challenge and negotiate. We've got to encourage questions if we want to raise a critical thinker in a gullible country. Critical thinking skills = defense against indoctrination.

Also books like this: http://www.amazon.com/Its-Okay-To-Be-Different/dp/0316043478/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1354052644&sr=8-2&keywords=the+okay+book

and this: http://www.amazon.com/The-Family-Book-Todd-Parr/dp/0316070408/ref=pd_sim_b_1

are useful because they teach the concept of tolerance to the very young.

((((peace)))))