In my nearly two decades of conversations with parents about spirituality development – their children’s or their own – I have found that whether parents identify as religious, spiritual but not religious, undecided, or really anywhere on the spiritual continuum, they are unaware of research on their child’s inborn spirituality. Many are at a loss about how to help their children develop spiritually. Ambivalence runs deep. Challenges commonly arise for several sometimes overlapping reasons: when parents aren’t certain about their own feelings regarding spirituality, when one or the other had negative experiences associated with religion when they were young and don’t want to subject their children to something similar, or when complications about religious affiliation create tension in the couple or extended family.
11/22
From “The Spiritual Child: The New Science on Parenting for Health and Lifelong Thriving” By Lisa Miller, PhD
