Whether you yourself have an interest in religion or not, there might come a time when you consider it your duty to offer your child the chance to discover religion for itself. You might be an atheist or you might have a particular creed or religion that you prefer, but is that a reason to make your child follow you?
Most children do not associate church with fun (and you might well argue that fun has nothing to with it), so how to you inspire an interest in religion? There appear to be only two ways: you can either make it more fun or you can compel them. We all know that force tends to have the opposite effect from the one desired, so how do you make going to church fun or at least interesting?
The beginning of going to church alone for most children is Sunday School, so you could start there. This is not about you or your religious education, so whatever you believe, you could go along to the Sunday Schools of a few local churches and find out what activities they hold.
If the Sunday school is dull and boring, your child will not remain there and might become put off for decades or even life. Going to church or to Sunday schools ought to be about religious education and moral guidance not about compulsion and indoctrination.
You do not have to believe everything your religious teacher tells you to become a good, moral, religious person no matter which denomination you belong to. There are not many religious teachers in any church who would state that they 'know it all'. If they did they would not need to pray for guidance themselves!
Events that young children may find interesting are approximately the same as those they would do in a standard school, but with a slightly more religious bent. These include: painting, drawing, singing, reading, story-telling, playing and sports. The extra reading practice at Sunday school may truly give your child the edge when it comes to the state school curriculum as well.
Older children will like sport, dancing (barn dances, line-dancing, ballroom dancing), singing, putting on plays and discussion classes. Children outside this environment will almost certainly never act in a play or never learn to Tango in their lives, yet it is a godsend in life to have done it at least once.
Debating is another skill that most people do not have either. Learning fund raising and public speaking are fantastic skills that are not taught frequently in state schools any more either.
If your children do not like the Sunday school that you would like them to attend, let them go to a different one. Any extra education is better than none or roaming the streets. In my case, my parents were Spiritualists, but my mother's family were Catholics.
My school was Church of Wales (same as the Church of England), the Boy Scouts I was in were Methodists, but they went to a Baptist Church because it was nearer. I enjoyed the singing in all the churches and I still know the songs 45 years later!
Most children do not associate church with fun (and you might well argue that fun has nothing to with it), so how to you inspire an interest in religion? There appear to be only two ways: you can either make it more fun or you can compel them. We all know that force tends to have the opposite effect from the one desired, so how do you make going to church fun or at least interesting?
The beginning of going to church alone for most children is Sunday School, so you could start there. This is not about you or your religious education, so whatever you believe, you could go along to the Sunday Schools of a few local churches and find out what activities they hold.
If the Sunday school is dull and boring, your child will not remain there and might become put off for decades or even life. Going to church or to Sunday schools ought to be about religious education and moral guidance not about compulsion and indoctrination.
You do not have to believe everything your religious teacher tells you to become a good, moral, religious person no matter which denomination you belong to. There are not many religious teachers in any church who would state that they 'know it all'. If they did they would not need to pray for guidance themselves!
Events that young children may find interesting are approximately the same as those they would do in a standard school, but with a slightly more religious bent. These include: painting, drawing, singing, reading, story-telling, playing and sports. The extra reading practice at Sunday school may truly give your child the edge when it comes to the state school curriculum as well.
Older children will like sport, dancing (barn dances, line-dancing, ballroom dancing), singing, putting on plays and discussion classes. Children outside this environment will almost certainly never act in a play or never learn to Tango in their lives, yet it is a godsend in life to have done it at least once.
Debating is another skill that most people do not have either. Learning fund raising and public speaking are fantastic skills that are not taught frequently in state schools any more either.
If your children do not like the Sunday school that you would like them to attend, let them go to a different one. Any extra education is better than none or roaming the streets. In my case, my parents were Spiritualists, but my mother's family were Catholics.
My school was Church of Wales (same as the Church of England), the Boy Scouts I was in were Methodists, but they went to a Baptist Church because it was nearer. I enjoyed the singing in all the churches and I still know the songs 45 years later!
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with Korean religious belief. If you would like to know more go to What is Religious Belief?
