skeptics: how will you deal with your childs sense of wonder to the supernatural?

[no-body]

Whether God, Santa, fairies, fantasy, etc how will you indulge your child in what you personally consider to be fairy tales?

Personally I wouldn't want to ridicule my child and have them miss out on the "magic" of such experiences but I would stay neutral and just give them my honest view as a skeptic if they ever ask and try to teach them the basics so they can come to their own conclusion. Carl Sagans "Baloney detector" is a good starting point.

What if you have a teenager that honestly believes in ghosts and psychics? Just accept it with a polite chuckle and roll your eyes?

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

What I do with mine, is that I let them believe what they want, but at the same time, teach them to be rational and think about things, think things through. So when they're young, they still get to experience the magic that they see in life, and not stifle their creativity, and when they're older, if I've taught them right, they'll be able to use their reason in a proper manner, and try to accept things based on logic.

 

[bobhikes]

Whether God, Santa, fairies, fantasy, etc how will you indulge your child in what you personally consider to be fairy tales?

Personally I wouldn't want to ridicule my child and have them miss out on the "magic" of such experiences but I would stay neutral and just give them my honest view as a skeptic if they ever ask and try to teach them the basics so they can come to their own conclusion. Carl Sagans "Baloney detector" is a good starting point.

What if you have a teenager that honestly believes in ghosts and psychics? Just accept it with a polite chuckle and roll your eyes?

I am as skeptical about Carl Sagan, Science and Math as I am about God, Santa Fairies and equally skeptical about ghosts, psychics and aliens so there is no problem raising my kids, I just give them other views and let them decide.

I am probably least skeptical about Santa Claus, I tell my kids that Santa is a spirit that inspires others to give gifts at Christmas only those that know the spirit will give the gifts.

I am starting to doubt why I give so much validity to the Math and Science and Social Studies that they do in school, when I only value English or other Languages.

 

[9Westy9]

I don't think I'd raise my kid as a sceptic as such. I'd teach him/ her to think of themselves instead of raising them to be like me. If that results in them believing in the supernatural then that's fine, as long as they're thinking

 

[Father Heathen]

I wouldn't do anything to stifle a child's sense of wonderment, but I would teach and encourage them to use critical thinking once they're old enough.

 

[Dissenter]

I think the first step is providing them with the tools to examine things critically. Once they have this ability then the choice to believe what they wish is entirely theirs.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Each of my grandchildren have heard innumerable chronicles of my experiences with Priscilla the Purple Pixie Princes and her band of hummingbirds. It's interesting to watch as they come to believe me less and less without any loss in enjoyment or wonder. I can move from there to talking about how people exist because of Panama and, hopefully, engender the same wonder while imparting some science.

A child's wonder should never be ridiculed; it should be applauded and employed and, in the final analysis, shared.

 

[waitasec]

i let him explore his thoughts....

currently he believes in reincarnation....and wonders who he was before...
i think it's great.


i knew he'd be exposed to the idea of god through my side of the family, my mom in particular, he asked me why i don't believe there is a god and i just said...some have found reasons to believe and other have found reasons not to...

 

[Quintessence]

Question for the OP: why do you call these things supernatural? What makes something supernatural versus natural?

Also, what's with the failure to distinguish mythos from logos again? There's stories and there's objective fact. I realize young children really can't distinguish between the two, but... gah.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Also, what's with the failure to distinguish mythos from logos again?

Damn right! I never tell my grandkids a story without pretentiously distinguishing between mythos and logos, not to mention Cosmo and cosmos, leggos and ethos, tacos and ...

 

[connermt]

Whether God, Santa, fairies, fantasy, etc how will you indulge your child in what you personally consider to be fairy tales?

Personally I wouldn't want to ridicule my child and have them miss out on the "magic" of such experiences but I would stay neutral and just give them my honest view as a skeptic if they ever ask and try to teach them the basics so they can come to their own conclusion. Carl Sagans "Baloney detector" is a good starting point.

What if you have a teenager that honestly believes in ghosts and psychics? Just accept it with a polite chuckle and roll your eyes?

There are social/cultural norms regarding the supernatural that I think are fine to introduce your child to (santa, tooth fairy, etc). Once your child reaches the appropiate age where they can understand that they don't exists, it's fine to tell them.
When it comes to the paranormal, it depends on the parent's experience. I for one, believe a lot of the reported paranormal exists. So I would entertain my child's questioning it. That said, it's important to raise your children with an open mind that not only asks questions, but seeks out their answers.
And for me, that's more important than how you deal with said issue.

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

Whether God, Santa, fairies, fantasy, etc how will you indulge your child in what you personally consider to be fairy tales?

I love fairy tales and have no problem with my child loving them either.

Personally I wouldn't want to ridicule my child and have them miss out on the "magic" of such experiences but I would stay neutral and just give them my honest view as a skeptic if they ever ask and try to teach them the basics so they can come to their own conclusion. Carl Sagans "Baloney detector" is a good starting point.

I have no problem teaching my child about the magical beliefs of our ancestors. I can easily teach her about the tuatha de danann and explain that her Celtic ancestors believed in them. If she asks me if they are real all I can really say is I don't know. According to legend they all left this world long ago so how do we know they didn't exist in some form or another.

What if you have a teenager that honestly believes in ghosts and psychics? Just accept it with a polite chuckle and roll your eyes?

I believe in ghosts. Psychics not so much because 99.99% are con artists. But I believe in psychic sensitivity. So go ahead, roll your eyes all you want.

 

[Quintessence]

Damn right! I never tell my grandkids a story without pretentiously distinguishing between mythos and logos, not to mention Cosmo and cosmos, leggos and ethos, tacos and ...

Why do you believe the distinction between mythos (truth as conveyed by story) and logos (truth as conveyed by objective fact) to be pretentious? Do you not see the difference between the two? Do you reject one of these methods of truth entirely?

 

[bobhikes]

Why do you believe the distinction between mythos (truth as conveyed by story) and logos (truth as conveyed by objective fact) to be pretentious? Do you not see the difference between the two? Do you reject one of these methods of truth entirely?

Maybe like me he doesn't believe in Objective Fact. Everything is subjective.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

Whether God, Santa, fairies, fantasy, etc how will you indulge your child in what you personally consider to be fairy tales?

Personally I wouldn't want to ridicule my child and have them miss out on the "magic" of such experiences but I would stay neutral and just give them my honest view as a skeptic if they ever ask and try to teach them the basics so they can come to their own conclusion. Carl Sagans "Baloney detector" is a good starting point.

What if you have a teenager that honestly believes in ghosts and psychics? Just accept it with a polite chuckle and roll your eyes?

No sense lying to the child. Tell'm the truth. "It's all made up because man, throughout the ages, has a severe lack of knowledge of natural phenomenon so we made up things to cover our misunderstandings"....that includes "God, gods, fairies, leprechauns, nymphs, sprites, satan, santa...etc...etc...!"....

 

[Alex_G]

Whether God, Santa, fairies, fantasy, etc how will you indulge your child in what you personally consider to be fairy tales?

Personally I wouldn't want to ridicule my child and have them miss out on the "magic" of such experiences but I would stay neutral and just give them my honest view as a skeptic if they ever ask and try to teach them the basics so they can come to their own conclusion. Carl Sagans "Baloney detector" is a good starting point.

What if you have a teenager that honestly believes in ghosts and psychics? Just accept it with a polite chuckle and roll your eyes?

There's more to healthy child development than the mere honing of rational thinking. Imagination and creative thinking should always be allowed to flourish. To dominate a child's world with pure cold reason and inflexible criticism strikes me as imposing ones own issues onto the child, which hardly constitutes good parenting in my opinion. Exposure to a variety of perspectives will be healthier to a childs development than a skewed and censored enviroment. It's always good to remember that one isn't artificially trying to condition a child in any particular way as a parent, or at least shouldn't be. Doing all you can to allow them to flourish is what's important, through honest interactions. In keeping with that, one should therefore not teach things that are not rational as rational, as this is a sort of dishonest conditioning. Allowing and encouraging imaginative thought for its own sake is important, and clearly morally different to the previous point.

 

[blackout]

Damn right! I never tell my grandkids a story without pretentiously distinguishing between mythos and logos, not to mention Cosmo and cosmos, leggos and ethos, tacos and ...

taquitos.

 

[Me Myself]

Burritos!

 

[Quintessence]

No sense lying to the child. Tell'm the truth. "It's all made up because man, throughout the ages, has a severe lack of knowledge of natural phenomenon so we made up things to cover our misunderstandings"....that includes "God, gods, fairies, leprechauns, nymphs, sprites, satan, santa...etc...etc...!"....

Except you're not lying to them. That's part of the point I was trying to make earlier. There are different ways of understanding truth in the world. Truth through story and narrative is one of them. Not everything needs to be taken literally or understood as a facet of the physical/objective reality. The fantastical creatures we speak of in stories exist in the otherworlds; in a realm of ideas and imagination that can have just as powerful of an influence on us as the air we breathe and the soil we walk upon. In that sense, they are quite real. Why would I want to deprive children of experiencing half of reality? What's important is for them to be able to distinguish between this world and the otherworlds; between logos and mythos.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

Except you're not lying to them.

Personally I feel as though it is. We all know Santa doesn't exist. Our kids don't but if we erect a tree in our house and place presents at the base of it (which is just another culture's pagan ritual) then tell them a fat man with a beard wearing a red suit is going to come down the chimney and leave presents under the tree...even though we know we're the ones leaving the presents then it is a lie.

That's part of the point I was trying to make earlier. There are different ways of understanding truth in the world.

I have imparted that truth without using the notion that a supernatural exist.

Truth through story and narrative is one of them. Not everything needs to be taken literally or understood as a facet of the physical/objective reality.

Until these mythic narratives actually become your reality though. That's exactly what's going on with proponents of the bible. The majority of the people in the US don't see them as narratives. Some believe in the creation myth and that Adam and Eve were real people and that a global flood did indeed happen.

The fantastical creatures we speak of in stories exist in the otherworlds; in a realm of ideas and imagination that can have just as powerful of an influence on us as the air we breathe and the soil we walk upon.

Not in my world.

Why would I want to deprive children of experiencing half of reality?

I would've loved to have deprived my children of your reality but I didn't. I let them decide for themselves. Their mom is a believer and both of them appear to be Agnostic. I'm the only Heathen in our family...