spirituality and children

[Hellcat]

I'm not sure if this one is best placed here or in religion, but no doubt the mods will decide.

My children are growing up fast, it only seems like yesterday when my daughter had the distinct resemblence of a new born stereotypical alien, and my son a new born smurf. My son turned 7 last month and my daughter will be six next year. Christmas is crawling closer, and once again I'm completely aware that my children are having christianity rammed down their throats at school, don't get me wrong, its not just christmas that brings out christianity at school, it happens all year round, but I can pretend its not happening during the rest of the year. The point is I can't help but wonder if I should somehow be getting involved with the spiritual side of their upbringing. Personally I'm not a christian, I follow a pagan belief system, and like any parent, deep down I want my children to follow me in my beliefs, but on the other hand I don't want to force them onto a spiritual path they might not want to go down. Up until now I've felt reluctant to indulge my children in my own ideas of spirituality in fear that I might some how make them feel obliged to follow what I believe despite their own beliefs, but now I feel like I'm in a position where I am watching school do to my children with christianity what I have loathed to do with paganism.

Okay it's probably not as bad as I make it out. School probably isn't ramming christianity down their throats, they are probably introducing children to the concepts of christianity (no doubt things have changed since I was at school!) which is a good thing- children should be made aware of other belief systems, but it goofs me off that they don't teach children about the basic principles of paganism at school. Basically I'm pissed off with myself because I don't have a clue about how to go about introducing my kids to my own beliefs without confusing them or seeming pushy. Are there any parents here who can give me some advise? Or any youngsters who have been on the recieving end of this kind of thing who can tell my how (or how not) to go about teaching my kids?

[NeonLightChild]

I'm no parent yet, but I've been on the receiving end of a lot of religions, mostly exposure from education.

When you do your rituals (if you do them), encourage your children to participate if they want to. Teach them how to cast their own circles and call the quarters, but do not overly chastise them if they do something wrong. Explain what your religion is all about and encourage them to explore others. The exposure I had to other religions wasn't nexessarliy crammed down my throat: my classmates and I were taken to houses of Hindu, Buddhism, Judaism, and finally, Christianity (we were taken to an Amish church for this one). In fact, last year in sociology we were given extra credit if we could attend a tour of a local Islam mosque; though I wanted very badly to go, I had class at the time of the tour :( . While all religions were VERY intriuging and informative, there was no pressure at all to actually BECOME a Hindu or even a Christian.

You can even "child-ize" paganism to a point...have your children draw out how they see certain gods and goddesses, teach them cleanliness and purification rituals with salt and let them make their besoms and Yule logs with you, both are wonderful craft-making opportunities (plus, the season is fast approaching).

You can also take them to a library and have them read different things about the religions...not to concentrate on Christianity, but since that is obviously the mainstream religion they are exposed to, teach them the stories of the God and his son. It is said that one must know the opposing side's argument in order to make sense of your own and this holds true for religions. You can put religions together by explaining how Christmas and Yule were put together so pagans can celebrate their beliefs without being under suspicion. The rituals and symbols of Samhain can also be explained through the persecution of the Church.

I hope this helps, if you are not doing any of this already.