Are your kids involved?

[SidneyCozzoi]

Do they have their own alters?
Do they study?
Do they meditate?
Do they talk about thier beliefs with you? With their friends?
Do you encourage them to follow this sort of path?
I'm just curious. I grew up with a mixed religion family and had the opportunity to see other paths. I was never forced, encouraged, or discouraged in anyway.

[Desert_Witch]

Do they have their own alters?
Do they study?
Do they meditate?
Do they talk about thier beliefs with you? With their friends?
Do you encourage them to follow this sort of path?
I'm just curious. I grew up with a mixed religion family and had the opportunity to see other paths. I was never forced, encouraged, or discouraged in anyway.


This is a great topic. My kids are too young to do most of this yet. But i plan for them to have their own altars, and if they show any interest they can sure study. Meditation will be part of their upbringing regardless of any interest in the path as it is in my opinion too valuable a skill not to have. I hope they will talk to me and their friends about their beliefs, as we plan on fostering an atmosphere and a relationship where that will be possible. As you can see i will most certainly encourage them on this path, but i know not to shove my beliefs down their throats. i am looking forward to hearing from others who have older kids, so I can hear what I am in for later.:boing:

[skilly-nilly]

First, I can tell a funny story:

When my children were small we lived in rural Northern United States, where Paganism was suspect and even (at times) discriminated against. So, on the principal of 'hide in plain sight' we celebrated all 8 of our holidays as well as all societal ones but without labeling. That is, rather than 'this is Imbolc' we celebrated 'this is the post-holidays party'. I identified them as the Equinoxi and Solstices and the mid-points only.

When my sons were pre-teens we emigrated to Canada. At 15, my son had a 15yr old 'Gothey Witch' girlfriend, and she was telling him all about her really cool Witchiness. One aspect, she said, was that she celebrated "different holidays".

First she named them, which meant nothing to my son, and then she started telling him when they were and what they stood for. As she went around the Wheel of the Year, he chimed in at every point......"Right! That's the Day of Suprize Flower Baskets.....That's the 'parade around the garden with flower crowns' day.......That's the grain holiday....That's the only local food dinner....That's that start of the Dark Half when you don't go out....That's the 'bring back the sun' day...That's the 'post-holidays party'....And that's the 'throw luck-eggs at the house' day.....do you celebrate them too??!!??

It had never occurred to her that there could be people in her world who had been brought up in the rebellious and counter-cultural religion she was following,,,it was funny.

But now my sons are nominally adults and while they wouldn't identify themselves as 'Pagan' they still have the attitudes they were brought up with---my one son has asked me to ward every place he's lived and the other took a totem charm with him when he faced a challenge.

[cheddarsox]

My kids are all teens now. I've been practicing as a pagan for about 10 years. They participate to the degree that they desire.
My daughter, 14, participates the most. She has her own altar. They all take part in varying degrees in our rituals and observances, the degree...depending on where they are in their lives.

for instance, they were all asking me for a couple of weeks if we were going to have a solstice observance. The night we did, some of their friends came by, so they ended up entertaining friends from out of town rather than participate in the ritual, but clearly they cared whether we had one or not. On my birthday, they participated in a meditation/ritual and invited their bf/gf to participate as well.

My daughter discusses our/her faith with others a lot. One son, somewhat less so, the other says religion is against his religion...he just has very little interest in any faith or religion, and has always been that way.

I encourage them to explore spirituality and have a faith to participate in because I think it is an asset in life, but I don't push them in any certain direction...but probably encourage them away from faiths I have no respect for.

I think that modeling the fruits of a rich spiritual life and being honest and inclusive with my own faith is the best I can do for them. I've always included them in my practice of religion and have been happy to talk/share with them. I hope that they see faith/religion as a good thing in their lives.

cheddar

[SidneyCozzoi]

I ofen wonder how other families would react to their kids coming home and sharing that sort of conversation about their pagan or wiccan friends... I also wonder how much more in tune kids who grow up with it are. It becomes a lifestyle not just a practice or a study. I think i was always raised with he same sort of values, just different types of christian alters sitting in front of me (Catholic, Protestant, Episcopal, Baptist, and a few others).

[angle kitsune]

I am often curious about how people here where broght up. I myself have no kids seeing as my age and all but I can offer how things are in my family. my grandmother keeps a christen alter and I have my own for my path though my grandmother does not live with us. I study and I meditate both my mother says is pointless and what not. I dont talk about my faith with mother but I do talk with my big sister and my friends and my history teachers know and have even asked me to give a talk type of thing to their world history class this year. I never get encouraged for my faith at home. It would make my mother's day if I where to fallow her path and ban all forms of faith in my life.

[Xirian]

Do they have their own alters?
No.

Do they study?
He doesn't study a religion if that's what you mean.

Do they meditate?
Yes.

Do they talk about thier beliefs with you? With their friends?
Yes and yes. He has a good friend that he discusses his beliefs with. They both have different views on things, but they have some interesting coversations from what I hear, when he comes and tells me about them.


Do you encourage them to follow this sort of path?
No. I think I would be taking away something that I feel is personal and forcing my beliefs on him, when I know he already has his own.

I feel that giving my son the key to finding out spiritual and religious information from many different perspectives (i.e. learning how to do research), is a good way to assist him in finding his own personal path. Another goal is to make sure he understands that there are other religions out there aside from paganism or christianity.

I grew up with a mixed religion family and had the opportunity to see other paths. I was never forced, encouraged, or discouraged in anyway.
My childhood was exactly the opposite. Perhaps that's the reason for my answers to your questions.

[Pagan Warrior]

My youngest is 3 and doesn't really have a concept of religion/spiritualism ... or perhaps she understands it better than I do LOL ... anyhow, my oldest is 9 and I have a feeling she's going to end up being a Christian.

[Druchii]

Do they have their own alters?
Do they study?
Do they meditate?
Do they talk about thier beliefs with you? With their friends?
Do you encourage them to follow this sort of path?
I'm just curious. I grew up with a mixed religion family and had the opportunity to see other paths. I was never forced, encouraged, or discouraged in anyway.

Nah, he's got other stuff he would rather be doing like watching "Cars" for the 87th time... :)

But seriously, if he ever wants to know more later, I figure that's as good a time as any.

[noxtwice]

Do they have their own alters?
Do they study?
Do they meditate?
Do they talk about thier beliefs with you? With their friends?
Do you encourage them to follow this sort of path?
I'm just curious. I grew up with a mixed religion family and had the opportunity to see other paths. I was never forced, encouraged, or discouraged in anyway.

yes, yes and more yesses....

my children literally EXHAUST me with it sometimes, they are so involved. right now we share a family altar but I am moving them in the direction of making their own seperate ones as well. mine is just too overstuffed with things, mostly theirs lol. so this year they got boxes for their stones and cards and whathave you, their own incense and burners each, plus an altar candle they each made of theoir own.

my youngest is probably the most adept of the two, but we are all very much involved together. they even have guided meditations on their mp3 players that they use almost daily.

when they were growing up i allowed them to attend church and sunday school with their freinds. after a year of this they each decided that christianity wasn't for them and have been "hitting the books" ever since. they converted to Wicca on their own about 2 years ago and love it sometimes more than adults. they seemed to ease into it luck a duck to water imo.

which i'm glad, they could have ended up so christian to have condemned me so i am lucky. but i never once forced my beliefs onto them. they were allowed to make their own informed decisions. so for that i am happy. :)

oh and they are 10 and 13

[Annest]

Do they have their own alters?
Do they study?
Do they meditate?
Do they talk about thier beliefs with you? With their friends?
Do you encourage them to follow this sort of path?
I'm just curious. I grew up with a mixed religion family and had the opportunity to see other paths. I was never forced, encouraged, or discouraged in anyway.

Well my youngest is only two so he only wants to blow out my candles,:lol: But my other son is eight, he is christian with a twist. He belives in god, jesus and the liberty godess, wich is what we in sweden call the statue of liberty:lol: I donīt see a problem with that. He can belive whaterver he wants as long as it makes him happy. We do talk a lot about different religions.

Anne

[Shanti]

Do they have their own alters? No. We don't have individual alters. We have one family alter, kind of. Its for Buddha.
Do they study? Yes
Do they meditate?My 8 year old does. My 6 year old isn't ready yet.
Do they talk about thier beliefs with you? With their friends? They talk only to me or their father and other family and some close friends of the family. Neither talk to other kids about beliefs. They just don't want too.
Do you encourage them to follow this sort of path? I teach them all different paths. They choose what they want to believe. My daughter right now is into Jesus. She feels he was kinda like Buddha. She doesn't believe in Gods or any deity. But she believes Jesus, Buddha, and Mohamed, and others tried to teach love, they were good people that wanted to help others find love and happiness. Thats the conclusions and feelings she is having at her moment in this life. :)

My 6 yr old son believes only in spirits. Nothing else. Everything has a spirit, spirits are everywhere, and he talks to them all the time and they play with him too. :)

[skilly-nilly]

I ofen wonder how other families would react to their kids coming home and sharing that sort of conversation about their pagan or wiccan friends...

When my son was about 17, he invited his gf to our Imbolc party---just a completely normal party except that we toast the new year, the returning Light, and absent friends in little chocolate cups and then eat them---and he (a guidance counselor) gave her information on cults to read before he would let her go.
"What are they going to do???" he asked.
"Have buffet dinner" she replied.

[SidneyCozzoi]

Great answers so far! Has your path caused them trouble with other children? (please keep responding to the first post, but just to further the thread...)
Kids are geneally more in tune with their senses; do you find that they recognize empathy or have a sight different from other children?

[Nitefalle]

I think this is a great thread and it has really set me to thinking. I have a step son, who right now is only 10 months old, but I wonder how I will influence him, if at all, in the future. I wonder if he will be interested in the things I believe, if he will be curious or if he will just think I'm strange. I wonder how this will play into the dynamic of his father and myself versus being raised by his mother (the custodial parent). She is not a "practicing" Christian, doesn't go to church as far as I know, and yet she had him baptized because she felt obligated.

A bit OT, but my boyfriend's sister is now having her 9 year old go to Catechism classes. She is not a practicing Christian, before she started him on these classes they did not go to Church or anything. Why do parents do this? I am just confused and find it highly hypocritical. Why make the kids do something they can't even commit to, they can't even believe enough to practice daily?? It irks me....I just hate hypocrites.

[SidneyCozzoi]

that reminds me of a friend back east who was sent to a catholic school, her mother was an athiest!

[Astara Seague]

I have allowed my children their choices but if they want to participate with us they are more then welcome, and if they have any questions I do my best to answer, my daughter seems to be the one who is going to follow my path, shes 22 now, she has her own alter and BOS and comes to our covens gatherings when she can, a couple of our coven members have young children so many times we gear our celebrations{like Midsummer or Ostara} in their direction so they can participate as well, this is per thier parents requests, the two in our coven are very open with their children.

[Pagan Warrior]

My 9 year old has been to rituals and such, but just doesn't seem interested in what I believe ... which is fine. She does like "Jesus necklaces" and seems inclined to believe in the Christian God. I encourage her to have some sort of faith, whatever that may be is her decision.

[Zoritsa_Nepenthe]

My oldest likes a girl who is Christian,so at this moment he is leaning towards the Christian God(which may or may not change when he finds someone else he likes),and my youngest is only 4.We discuss different religions and I allow my kids(well oldest,and eventually youngest)to explore and learn all they can about all religions.

[SidneyCozzoi]

My oldest likes a girl who is Christian,so at this moment he is leaning towards the Christian God(which may or may not change when he finds someone else he likes),and my youngest is only 4.We discuss different religions and I allow my kids(well oldest,and eventually youngest)to explore and learn all they can about all religions.

how old is the oldest?

[Amethyst Rose]

My son is only 3, so at this moment he has no concept of deity or religion. My husband is athiest so he's very strongly against raising our children within a religion, which is okay cuz I agree with him. I intend to raise our children with an awareness of different religions and beliefs, and allow them to decide on their own what they want to believe.

For me, religion is in my beliefs, not my practices. So, while I have an altar I don't have rituals etc. My kids will never see me actually practice a religion, so they won't be influenced that way. My husband thinks it's likely that my son will end up athiest. We'll see. :)

[ladyalpha]

Do they have their own alters?
Do they study?
Do they meditate?
Do they talk about thier beliefs with you? With their friends?
Do you encourage them to follow this sort of path?
I'm just curious. I grew up with a mixed religion family and had the opportunity to see other paths. I was never forced, encouraged, or discouraged in anyway.

Due to small hands (my youngest is 3) we do not have a personal altar set up at all times. So, no none of my children have an altar of their own yet either. However, they would be free to have one if they wanted when he gets a bit older.
They do collect things when we are on walks that would be great for a altar, but again..with a small child around, I doubt any of it would stay for long.

I tried to guide them on how to meditate but they weren't into it. I think the sitting still for a period of time was too hard on them. lol Perhaps when they are older they will be more interested.

Yes they do talk about their beliefs with me and others. They also ask some really good questions. They talk about their beliefs with their friends sometimes, but I don't think they speak much about it. As we live in a very small town with small minded beliefs. But they like to be sneaky at school and when they make cards/etc. for people. My 9 year old hides pentacles in her pictures. lol

We do encourage them to follow our beliefs to an extent. They have always been welcomed in the circle when we are celebrating and they are welcome to watch us do spells, light candles, make things, etc. But they are not forced to participate if they do not want to. They are also encouraged to learn all they can about others beliefs. Our main goals are to teach them how to think for themselves and be open-minded.

[Zoritsa_Nepenthe]

how old is the oldest?

He's 13...so very impressionable,very fickle,and like everything...changes often.So long as I continue to enforce that he can form his own beliefs on how he feels and no one can make him believe in something he doesn't,I don't worry that one particular girl has him all googly eyed atm.

[Catiana]

No, after exploring a couple of different religious paths, both of my sons are agnostic.

[SidneyCozzoi]

sounds like a lot of openess here. I wonder is there anyone here that doesn't want their kids to practice, discuss, and/or even know about your path?

[Desert_Witch]

sounds like a lot of openess here. I wonder is there anyone here that doesn't want their kids to practice, discuss, and/or even know about your path?

the Wiccan Trad I am a part of has a rule preventing anyone who is not eighteen from being taught. I will be teaching my kids the Family Path we are developing anyway so by the time they are eighteen they won't need to study with the Trad. I believe the driving factor to the eighteen and over rule is to prevent Covens from getting sued by irate parents. IMHO a rather cowrdly reason to deny our kids our beliefs.

[SidneyCozzoi]

That's almost like lying to them for 18 years! I was 8 when I first started asking questions about stuff like this. I had my first tarot deck at ten!

[Ravenna Angellin]

I tried to keep my beliefs fairly low key for a while when my oldest (he's almost 6) was a baby. But I felt like I was denying a part of myself, so I stopped that. I've been open about who I am ever since.

My oldest has decided he wants to be a boy witch animal protecter when he grows up. Very cute. My youngest isn't quite 2 yet and he's just oblivious for the most part.

The coven and tradition that I belong to hasn't ever said that I couldn't teach my children. In fact, the boys have come with me to a couple of open rituals. My oldest loves it. Especially the singing. But I never force it on them. I always make sure to give them a choice of whether or not they want to come join me. If they don't okay, their choice.

So yeah. That's about it for us.

~ Ravenna

[RavensEye]

Do they have their own alters? - No they share mine
Do they study? - No but the observe
Do they meditate? we are trying to do that more often.
Do they talk about thier beliefs with you? With their friends? Yes they have talked to others about thier beiiefs, and of course me :D
Do you encourage them to follow this sort of path? I ask Cleo about it every now and then what she holds as her religious beliefs and she seems to be going down a different road as of late. Due to her learning Christian beliefs in her previous school.. As for my younger two we shall wait and see what happens :D

[Desert_Witch]

That's almost like lying to them for 18 years! I was 8 when I first started asking questions about stuff like this. I had my first tarot deck at ten!


Yes, it is. I have seen people in my Trad refuse to share their core beliefs with their kids(cuz that knowledge is for initiates only) yet send them to a Catholic School where Bible study is taught as a regular class! What does that say to these kids about what we are really up to during these secret rituals they are not allowed to witness, let alone attend?

[SidneyCozzoi]

I can also see the other side of it. Give a child the knowledge to drive a car doesn't mean they should be allowed to do it.

[SidneyCozzoi]

does anyone have a child that seems to have an instinct or inclination or knack for any kind of practice in this area?

[Ravenna Angellin]

My oldest son seems naturally drawn to Reiki healing. He's also very intuned with the weather. I'm a firm believer that there's no such thing as coincidence, and when my kid can call the winds and make them go away just by asking, several times, I gonna have to go with it's him doing it. Same thing with snow. He makes little prayers to the Snow Sprites (his term) asking for just enough snow to play in, and that's what we get. Now I've got to teach him that it's not nice to mess with the weather, lol.

~ Ravenna

[SidneyCozzoi]

that's exactly what I was wondering. I find that kids aren't clouded by so much.
Anyone else?

[Ravenna Angellin]

that's exactly what I was wondering. I find that kids aren't clouded by so much.
Anyone else?

I make sure to not say that he can't do something. I heard that all the time as a child, and it really limits a person. So if he says that he can make it snow by talking to the snow sprites, I tell him to just make sure that mommy can still drive in it, lol.

Now obviously there are some things that I will say he can't do (play in traffic and yada yada), but other than that, the possibilities are endless, and I give him that room to learn and grow.

I've made it a point to let him lead me when it comes to his learning anything pagan related. We've learned simple meditation, and also the building and grounding of energy. He's good at it. But I also make it a point to expose him to other religions as well. It's not my job to pick his religion for him, and right now, it's not his job to pick one either. But when he gets older, he will have the knowledge to pick one for himself, and in the end, it will be okay.

In the mean time, I get to have fun doing magick with my little ones!

~ Ravenna

[GalenaFaolan]

I have 3 kids, 17(girl), 15 1/2 (boy) and almost 13 (girl). I've always been open about my beliefs with them.

My oldest daughter knows mom is a Pagan and she just thinks it's pretty cool. She goes to church but I really couldn't say she's a Christian or anything. She goes mainly because of the friends and activities more than for anything religious. It keeps her busy and out of trouble so no complaints!! LOL Plus it's not every week but she definitely has an open mind and I have encouraged all of them to explore all religions and aspects thereof.

My son isn't interested in anything at all, period, except getting in trouble. I despair but he knows I'm pagan as well.

My youngest daughter is the special one of the bunch. When she was small she played with a little girl spirit that lived in our apartment. She called her Honey. We had thought it was an imaginary friend but one day I let myself open up to whatever was there and I felt her though I never heard her or saw her myself. Both had a hard time when we had to leave because they were tearing the building down. She also saw her guardian angel when she fell out a third story window. I'll never forget what she described to me and how "the Lady" helped her almost all the way to the ground. A good friend died around that time as well and she told me how the friend died. She was 3 then and we hadn't told her about Kerri but during the telling of it she would sometimes say I or me instead of her. She has always been very empathic as well which is normal because I'm an empath myself. She's came up over the years and touched this or that on the altar I always have set up and sometimes asks a question. She wouldn't identify herself as Pagan yet. She studies and reads a lot about all things like I do as well and has always known she can be and believe whatever she wants. She has her own pendulum and tarot deck already but no altar as yet though I have a feeling it's coming. She believes in dragons and has 5 of them with her she communicates with. There are fairies who move with us and are always hanging around the house. She will do her little wish rituals and is now wanting to participate in other rituals for the Sabbats. Our first family ritual was this past Yule and thus was very special because of that. She generally doesn't say anything to her friends or anyone. If one of them comes over and sees the altar and they ask her she tells them, my mom's a witch and that's her altar. She'll show them her own collection of stones, name them, etc and will be open about it all. She'll have them ready to learn all about it by the time they leave! LOL She knows some of the basics and has shown talent for communicating with spirits, obviously and has some sense of just knowing things that may happen, just like I do.

I've taught her to protect herself and I protect her more till she can do it all herself. She learns about other religions and the way people live and practice things all over the world. I want her to know there are lots of beliefs in the world and no one person or religion is the "right" one but the one path you choose to follow is right for you. I give her lots of room to be who she is and an opportunity to learn about all things.