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Send your questions or suggestions to Mimi Doe. Mimi receives hundreds of questions and will try her best to answer them all. Please understand if she is not able to respond.
Some of your questions in the past included:
Q. What is spiritual parenting?
A. Spiritual parenting occurs when we expand our awareness to include our children's vivid inner lives. When we approach our kids as grand spiritual beings housed in little bodies we are parenting spiritually. Spiritual parenting is not limited to any one religion's teachings but rather is an authentic, honest way of interacting with our children day to day.
Q. What is spirituality?
A. Spirituality is the consciousness that relates us directly to God, or whatever we name as the source of our being. That consciousness can be activated when we are making a mud pie, singing a lullaby, observing a spider web, or deep in meditation.
Q. How is spiritual parenting different from other parenting philosophies?
A. Spiritual parenting isn't a scientific approach to parenting or a formula to follow but rather an attitude and consciousness to acknowledge, connect, love, and honor your child's very being. When parents incorporate the 10 Principles For Spiritual Parenting into their days all areas of their lives seem to flourish in a peaceful yet often miraculous way. Like their children, they are awake to the wonder of daily life. When we parent with God as our loving guide our center is secure no matter how rocky the journey. Parenting becomes a soul satisfying process. |
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Q. How do kids benefit from being parented in this way?
A. When kids are encouraged to create their own intimate relationship with God, feel connected to their families, lead a busy but balanced life, are loved by their parents -- they thrive. When children are spiritually parented their self esteem increases, they feel empowered, they have a belief system to count on, they feel connected to something greater then themselves, they have hope, they articulate their dreams and follow them, they begin to ask what is it I might give rather than what is it I might get.
Q. What is your best suggestion for parents who are of different religions, trying to teach their children "spiritual values?" My husband and I don’t agree on practices and beliefs. I am active in religion and he is not, but he believes and fears I will teach them "wrong."
A.Children are spiritual beings. They naturally have what many of us spend years trying to reclaim. What if you and your husband decided to try an experiment with your children for a week or so. Pretend that you don’t have anything to "teach" them about spirituality but rather lots to learn from them. Remain open to what they say and do. Engage them in questions about their dreams, experiences, views on God, hopes, ideas about creation. If you need some conversation starters try: *What does God look like to you? *How do you know God loves you? *When do you feel closest to God? *How might we bring God into our family more often? Listen more talk less. Set up specific quiet times with each child separately. Begin a Family Journal and ask your kids to design the cover with a logo that represents your families beliefs.
Our children’s spiritual natures are reflected by their unbounded creativity, vivid imagination, and joyful, open-ended approach to life. Spirituality is not the dogma of organized religion, although organized religion provides a great deal to nurture a child's soul. Not something to be taught to a child, spirituality is already there. After your week’s experiment I believe you will be more aware that this is so.
You and your husband might choose a religion that meets a common ground rather than staying separate with your differences. It sounds as if you do want a spiritual "church" foundation. You might try out different church communities in your town and find one that meets your family’s needs. The important thing to remember is that your children’s spiritual lives are flourishing every day and you have the choice to nourish and sustain that growth or to focus only on a certian religion’s teachings and miss the beauty of the everyday. Go out for dinner this weekend with your husband and make a list of what you both think is important in your spiritual life as a family. Then set about creating a full, light filled, peaceful, spiritual home where all of your souls are nourished.
Send your questions or suggestions to Mimi Doe.
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"I work full time and found that I was always distracted when I was with my 20 month old daughter. What finally has worked for me is this. When I come home from work, rather than rush to the kitchen and frantically try to make dinner, I spend 20 minutes on the floor playing with my daughter. Then I make dinner. She’s happy and doesn’t cling to me in the kitchen and it’s a great transition for me. We both are feeling the results." Jeanne (Mother of 1)
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