Do we indoctrinate our kids?

This is a massive subject. There is actually enough material to write a whole book on bringing our kids up and what we might teach them about this life. But let’s look at it briefly in two articles.

Part 1

Yes it's possible to bring your children up to not question what you say, and to not allow difference of opinion or provide space for them to think for themselves. I think that's very different from bringing them up to know God and what life is about in this world.

Small sponges

It's impossible to bring a child up neutrally, whatever people might say. Every child is brought up within their parents’ take on the world. We might not be conscious of it but they absorb so much of our beliefs and our attitudes to others etc. Like small sponges they soak up how we look at the world. Gradually, as more and more people are involved in their lives, they see difference, nuance and other approaches. They have the option to accept or reject parental thinking and to find their own path. If they've been raised in love this will be easier to do, love and acceptance provide an awesome platform from which to explore the world and try out different things.

As a Christian I believe God is the author of reality and long for my children to know him, to see the wonder of all he is and to explore life in our Makers world, to know the height, breadth and depths of love found in his arms. I think that life is best lived as my Creator intended and I want my children to see and absorb that from me.  

I want them to know the wonder and freedom of never stopping, never giving up love and I want them to come to the fountain of that love as I trickle some of that out on them.

Black and white

I know I will be more black and white with them in the early years than in the later years. I need my son to stop when I say stop before he fully gets the implications of running into a busy road. Of course I will explain why but I'm not going to have a reasoned debate before ensuring he is safe. I'm going to teach him big realities about God before we get to the nuance of belief but I want to help him have space to explore that belief, to know that questions are part of it and to know that we love him whatever.

I don't think that's indoctrination. If I didn't believe in God I would be raising my children to not believe in him. I don't think that's indoctrination either.

Part two will explore this subject further, and touch on the involvement of Sunday Schools. 

Were you brought up in a family that had a faith?

What do you think are the pros and cons of this?