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Originally Posted by willravel
5 is, in my humble opinion, way too young for religion. I am going to wait myself in allowing my daughter to attend churches until she is about 11 or 12. When a child is 5 years old, his or her brain is still in early development. Often, children this age can have things like imaginary friends, fear of specters or the dark, and such. While children that age do have some rudimentary intuitive grasp of logical concepts, but is still very much crude. Also, it is very, very easy for children this age to believe in magical increase, decrease, and disappearance. In other words, their reality is growing, but is not by any means solid. As perceptions dominate judgment and not the other way around yet, in my opinion a child of 0-8 or 9 would be unable to make a reasonable decision about the nature of the universe, be it theological or otherwise.
If you're interested in teaching your child morals, the Bible or other religious texts can be useful. Parables can be effective tools so far as instilling a sense of right and wrong. Also, you can filter out the good morals in the Bible (golden rule) vs. the bad morals (genocide).
This is still the preoperational period and as such should be treated with great care.
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I don't need the Bible or any other religious dogma to teach morals or right from wrong. My concern lies mainly in making sure she has a well-rounded basis for when she makes the choice to be religious, atheist or agnostic. I can not give that to her.
As for 5-years-old being too young for religion, I WHOLE-HEARTEDLY agree with you, although it's somewhat of a generalization. However, two of her best friends (both 5) consistently spout rhetoric at her OR WORSE.
For instance, she and a friend were coloring one day. My daughter asked her friend for the blue crayon. Her friend responded with:
"Jesus doesn't want you to have the blue crayon."
What the fuck is that? I'm not making it up. This kid was not making a joke. She was very serious about it. My daughter said, "What?" (actually she said, "Hunh?" which is something that we're working on but that's a different story). The little girl said it again. This is EXACTLY what happens when a 5-year-old is "indoctrinated" into ANY religion.
I have many other examples of these kinds of dialogs. The bottom line is, when my daughter asks me to explain these things I find myself unable to.
So Will, I agree with you about the age thing. I just don't know what to do. The questions are getting harder for me to explain or circumvent. She's persistent. Questions are a good thing. I don't want to become frustrated and discourage the questions.
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Originally Posted by guccilvr
I will be sending our kids to a private yet unreligious school as kids get enough religious influence from their grandparents
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What if the grandparents are agnostic/atheist too? My parents are atheist. My in-laws are smart enough to mind their own business about religion and politics in my house (as am I in theirs).
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Originally Posted by The_Jazz
"My wife's Catholic,"
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My wife is agnostic.