How Can We Nurture The Spiritual Beings We Are Given To Care For?
We must look after the feeding and watering of the spiritual beings in our care. Just like a plant left without sunshine and rain our spirits too wither without nurture and attention. So if you are not a church goer what are the ways that you will attend to this NEED of the children in your care. We buy organic baby food to make their bodies healthy, we read to them to make their minds sharp, we socialize them with play groups and preschools, we put them on sports teams, so what are you doing to nurture their spirits? How and from who will they learn the skills of spirituality?
Who do we Trust?
Awareness of Connection
Who do we Trust
Polly - Grayson and Beth
The White Seal
Rudyard Kipling
Oh! hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us,
And black are the waters that sparkled so green.
The moon, o'er the combers, looks downward to find us
At rest in the hollows that rustle between.
Where billow meets billow, there soft be thy pillow;
Ah, weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease!
The storm shall not wake thee, nor shark overtake thee,
Asleep in the arms of the slow-swinging seas.
You mustn't swim till you're six weeks old,
Or your head will be sunk by your heels;
And summer gales and Killer Whales are bad for baby seals.
Are bad for baby seals, dear rat, As bad as bad can be.
But splash and grow strong, And you can't be wrong,
Child of the Open Sea!
The World's Newest Major Religion: No Religion
If the world is at a religious precipice, then we’ve been moving slowly toward it for decades. Fifty years ago, Time asked in a famous headline, “Is God Dead?” The magazine wondered whether religion was relevant to modern life in the post-atomic age when communism was spreading and science was explaining more about our natural world than ever before.
Amy Roon, Minister University Congregational United Church of Christ
We’ve Almost Lost Two Generations
The decline in participation in organized religion has not happened over night. Sociologists can cite a myriad of reasons for shrinking church membership during the last 50 years. We have almost lost 2 full generations. Those born in the 60s and 70s had a much lower likelihood of being forced to go to church than those born in the 40s and 50s - so then if you didn’t go to church or temple what would make you want to take your child? If you are a grandparent would you really encourage your son or daughter to give your grand child religious education or spirituality development when you did not provide that for your child?
Assuming we can all agree that our spirituality and our children’s spirituality is crucial to their health and wellbeing — how will we provide agencies, organizations and opportunities to foster this growth? How might churches restructure and focus their outreach in ways that would welcome the unchurched back for such a task as this - Nurturing Children’s spirituality.
On the Classroom and Practice pages we offer some ideas and suggestions.
16 Children’s Books For ‘Spiritual But Not Religious’ Families & kids with big questions
While a growing number of Americans are forsaking traditional religious identities, they’re still asking the big questions: What is God? How do I make meaning in my life? What is the purpose of it all?
Screen Time: The Impact on Kids and Parenting
By Azmaira H. Maker Ph.D.
New research explains the significant negative effects of excessive screen time. The research strongly suggests that human to human, hands on interaction is the most beneficial for a child’s socio-emotional development, as screen time could impair empathy, communication, cognitive functioning, emotional regulation, sleep, attention, and brain development.
Children & Parents
What Adults Can Learn From Kids
Child prodigy Adora Svitak says the world needs "childish" thinking: bold ideas, wild creativity and especially optimism.
Kids' big dreams deserve high expectations, she says, starting with grownups' willingness to learn from children as much as to teach.
by Polly Berrien Berends
The Song of the Seeing Being
The more we realize that seeing is the issue in life,
the more interested we are in seeing.
The more interested we are in seeing,
the more we look at everything for what it has to teach us.
The more we look at everything for what it has to teach us,
the more we see that we are being taught.
The more we see that we are being taught,
the more we know that we are loved.
The more we know that we are loved,
the more we see love.
The more we see love,
the more lovingly we are seeing.
The more lovingly we are seeing,
the more loving we are being,
the more we leaize that seeing is the issue in life,
[start over]
The Spiritual Child
By Lisa Miller
In The Spiritual Child, psychologist Lisa Miller presents the next big idea in psychology: the science and the power of spirituality. She explains the clear, scientific link between spirituality and health and shows that children who have a positive, active relationship to spirituality:
are 40% less likely to use and abuse substances
are 60% less likely to be depressed as teenagers
are 80% less likely to have dangerous or unprotected sex
have significantly more positive markers for thriving including an increased sense of meaning and purpose, and high levels of academic success.
Combining cutting-edge research with broad anecdotal evidence from her work as a clinical psychologist to illustrate just how invaluable spirituality is to a child's mental and physical health, Miller translates these findings into practical advice for parents, giving them concrete ways to develop and encourage their children's—as well as their own—well-being. In this provocative, conversation-starting book, Dr. Miller presents us with a pioneering new way to think about parenting our modern youth.
How Spirituality Can Protect You
Dr. Lisa Miller
#OWNSHOW | Oprah Online
Dr. Lisa Miller explains how spirituality can be a safeguard against depression and everyday stress.
Spiritual Child Part II with Lisa Miller
Dr. Lisa Miller
Presented by Crossroads Cultural Center
Fostering Spirituality in the Young: Why is it important? What helps it? What undermines it? With Lisa MILLER, Ph.D.
The Spiritual Knock at The Door
Dr. Lisa Miller
Institute for Spirituality and Health
TEDxTeachersCollege
Dr. Lisa Miller
In this spiritually awakening talk, Lisa Miller invites listeners to assume a child-like curiosity for the universe. Explaining that mindfulness is a metaphorical gateway to appreciating one's surroundings and being appreciated by one's surroundings, Miller encourages listeners to develop a connection between the self and a spiritual universe. Citing research evidence of the positive effects of mindfulness practice and spiritualism on the brain at a material level, Miller makes a remarkable link between brain science, consciousness, and the universe. Lisa Miller, Ph.D. is a member of the faculty of Teachers College, Columbia University. As founder of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute, Dr. Miller's research focuses extensively on spirituality, mental health, and wellness.
Jenkins, Ph.D., Peggy J. (1995). Nurturing Spirituality in Children. New York: Atria Books, A Division of Simon & Schuster Inc.
McClain, Rebecca L. (2017). Graceful Nurture: using Godly Play with Adults. Church Publishing.
May, Posterski, Stonehouse, Cannell, Scottie, Beth, Catherine, Linda (2005). Children Matter: Celebrating Their Place in the Church, Family, and Community. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Bronson, Merryman, Po, Ashley (2009). NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children. New York: 12 Twelve.
