Subject: Re: Religious upbringing
Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1999 18:33:30 -0800
From: Peter Ballard >
Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian
In article < >, Robert Davidson > wrote:
> How do people here use religious notions in the upbringing of their
> children here?  My daughter is a little young yet for much
> enculturation
> (she’s only 8 months), but we’re planning on majoring on stories
> from
> the bible (probably lots of the ones from Genesis to start with).
> What
> we intend to de-emphasise is the Judeo-Christian overstressing of
> sin
> and guilt - this seems to me to introduce much damage to kids.
> Any ideas?
> Robert Davidson

G’day Robert,
Well sin and guilt are real enough and I see no reason to
avoid it, as long as it is presented in an appropriate way.
We tell our kids that “everyone is naughty sometimes”.
My oldest (5yo girl) has NO trouble understanding that!
I don’t think I’ve ever used the words “sin”
and “guilt” with them. [Other than to explain what
“sin” means (“naughtiness”) when they’ve
heard it elsewhere.]

On a more general note, there are many good children’s
bibles and other children’s resources out there these
days.  Some take up the Biblical war imagery in ways which
I believe are unhealthy, but generally the stuff is good.
Always check stuff out before buying.

FWIW, the first Bible story book we used was called the
“First Step Bible”. Our oldest loved it and now
our 3yo girl does too.

And of course, most of all, our kids need to see how we live
as Christians in our everyday lives.

Peter Ballard
Adelaide, AUSTRALIA
 OR 
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~pballard/
[personal opinions only]

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