Minors and beliefs

[VoidCat]

How do you feel about minors asking about your beliefs. Do you worry about kids being too impressionable thus don't talk as much on your beliefs? Do you go in as much depth or give less info then if you talked to an adult? Do you take parental views in account or no? Do you try to help them grow in beliefs or not?

 

[Jacob Samuelson]

I believe we are born with light. Our only real job on Earth is to eventually discover it for ourselves. Having a concern that you might influence that natural light with your personal beliefs says to me that you might think your beliefs harmful. If that is the case, than I think you should listen to your concerns. Pure light is meant to radiate and be shared regardless of age, but it should come out more like giving a genuine smile to someone you don't know.

Parents should be the primary people responsible for protecting and nurturing that light in their kids. Beliefs don't blossom until teen hood at which minors are most fragile in finding identity or fitting in. Although It really is impossible to prevent all types of information from infiltrating their belief system as there is tons of ideas already politically and religiously spread about in social media. Because of all the creeps in the world, I would hold off having conversations with minors over the internet. I would just direct them to a website or article and no more. They will discover it on their own eventually and hopefully it will be just what they need.

 

[sun rise]

I think it's fine to answer questions from children. No preaching but "this is my belief" answers.

 

[Spirit of Light]

How do you feel about minors asking about your beliefs. Do you worry about kids being too impressionable thus don't talk as much on your beliefs? Do you go in as much depth or give less info then if you talked to an adult? Do you take parental views in account or no? Do you try to help them grow in beliefs or not?

Answering question is a right thing to do so yes if children do ask about my faith and belief i will give same or similar answers as I would do to an Adult.

 

[ChristineM]

How do you feel about minors asking about your beliefs. Do you worry about kids being too impressionable thus don't talk as much on your beliefs? Do you go in as much depth or give less info then if you talked to an adult? Do you take parental views in account or no? Do you try to help them grow in beliefs or not?

Speaking for ourselves we tried not to influence our kids and answered what they asked without (we believe) prejudice. The twins both went to church on their own volition. After a couple of years Samantha told us she didn't want to go any longer, it didn't conform to her ideas at all. A couple of months later it was Adika's turn to demand (literally stomping his foot) that he drop going to church because he is getting to old for fairy stories. Beth has never wanted to go.

 

[RestlessSoul]

I used to talk to my son about God occasionally, but tbh when he was little he was more interested in Denis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry

 

[SalixIncendium]

How do you feel about minors asking about your beliefs.

I'm fine with it, and I share what I know. But I don't force feed them. There are things about my worldview my own daughter doesn't know, because she hasn't asked me about them.

Do you worry about kids being too impressionable thus don't talk as much on your beliefs?

I talk about my views when asked. I don't censor what subject matter due to age, though if the kid is not mine, I will make sure I have the parent's permission to have such a discussion from the outset.

Do you go in as much depth or give less info then if you talked to an adult? Do you take parental views in account or no?

I go into the same amount of depth, though I would present my views in a way a child would understand. A perfect example would be the parable of how God forgot he was God, which I've shared a couple of times here on the forum.

Do you try to help them grow in beliefs or not?

Only if they express a desire to grow.

 

[Altfish]

How do you feel about minors asking about your beliefs. Do you worry about kids being too impressionable thus don't talk as much on your beliefs? Do you go in as much depth or give less info then if you talked to an adult? Do you take parental views in account or no? Do you try to help them grow in beliefs or not?

Interesting question.

I can only say what we did for our children, remember I am an atheist.
Firstly we encouraged them to join youth groups (Cubs, Brownies, etc) many of which had religion involvement, so in that way they learnt primarily about Christianity.
At school, it was a state school which had a pastor but no particular religious bias, we let then learn about other religions.
When they asked questions like, "Dad, why don't you go to church?" or "Mum, why don't you pray?" we told them honestly, "We don't believe in a god"

At no stage did we dissuade them from following a religion.

They are both now atheists.

 

[Nakosis]

How do you feel about minors asking about your beliefs. Do you worry about kids being too impressionable thus don't talk as much on your beliefs? Do you go in as much depth or give less info then if you talked to an adult? Do you take parental views in account or no? Do you try to help them grow in beliefs or not?

I didn't want to influence my kids as far as spiritual/religious beliefs so was never asked, never offered.
As far as other beliefs I always told them to question anything I said.

To me, beliefs are simply that. Nothing to build a foundation of truth on.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

How do you feel about minors asking about your beliefs. Do you worry about kids being too impressionable thus don't talk as much on your beliefs? Do you go in as much depth or give less info then if you talked to an adult? Do you take parental views in account or no? Do you try to help them grow in beliefs or not?

Minors as in other people's kids?

It doesn't come up that often, but when it does, I try to steer the question back to whatever the thought was that prompted the question.

Nothing about the way I present myself suggests any particular religion (though I've had plenty of people assume I was Christian), so I think when a kid asks me what I think about some issue related to religion, it's because they're trying to figure things out and are exploring the solutions that other people have arrived at.

In these cases, to the extent that I give advice at all, it's only focused on process, never on the end result.

 

[HonestJoe]

How do you feel about minors asking about your beliefs. Do you worry about kids being too impressionable thus don't talk as much on your beliefs? Do you go in as much depth or give less info then if you talked to an adult? Do you take parental views in account or no? Do you try to help them grow in beliefs or not?

I strongly encourage children to ask questions about everything and adults to try to answer them openly and honestly. Obviously the nature of your relationship with the child and their parents is going to influence that in practical terms and you should avoid crossing any lines, especially with younger children.

I do have the advantage of a fairly logically-based agnostic position so am less likely to be bringing up anything directly contradictory to anything else they've been told, though hearing contradictory (or apparently contradictory) information is another key part of learning (and learning to learn).

I'd also encourage adults to answer the questions of children because there is nothing like youthful focus and logic to cut through irrational beliefs and force a rethink of a settled worldview.

 

[pearl]

Do you go in as much depth or give less info then if you talked to an adult?

Depending on the age I answer exactly what was asked. If more is wanted, they will ask. An overload would simply be lost and discourage further questioning.