Building Self-Understanding with Self-Talk
When she was three, my middle daughter loved to play dolls with her friends. They would reenact various everyday…
MorePosts tagged: Questions
How Choice Questions Build Ethical Thinking
“Would you rather wear your blue sweater or your red one?” Questions like this are a parenting staple and kids are…
MoreTalking about Natural Disasters with Kids
Since Hurricane Helene made landfall last week, more than 190 people have been confirmed dead and hundreds more remain…
MoreTalking about the Election with Kids
My two older children were just 6 and 3 when their dad and I signed on as volunteers with a major election campaign.…
MoreDifferent Kinds of Curiosity
My eldest child likes to figure out how things work. When she was three, she shocked our neighbor by explaining the…
MoreWhen Children Interrupt
Interruptions are an expected issue when working with children. Sometimes they want to tell us about their new pet or…
MoreChildren’s Understandings of Death
Death is a part of life. Even if some children do not experience it directly with a pet or family member, they know…
MoreTalking with Kids about the Chiefs Parade Shooting
Nearly a million people were celebrating the Kansas City Chiefs and their Super Bowl win when shots rang out, killing…
MoreResolve to Learn Together
People of all ages make personal New Year’s resolutions. Adults resolve to be more patient, develop an exercise…
MoreHoliday ‘Marker Talks’
Many of the children I teach come from households that celebrate multiple religious and cultural holidays. Others have…
MoreHelping Young Children Connect Actions with Consequences
As preschoolers, my kids love playing with story blocks. Our set consisted of wooden tiles depicting various…
MoreExploring Change with Where is Home, Daddy Bear?
My family moved when I was a child. For the first 6 months, I refused to call the new house ‘home’. I did not want…
MoreTalking about the Israel/Palestine Conflict with Children
After the 9/11 terrorist attack, my four year old asked, “Mommy, were there children on those planes?” I responded…
MoreMovement Meditation: Wonder
Children learn pretty quickly that there are often right answers and wrong answers to the questions adults ask. Those…
MoreSharing the ‘Hard Parts’ of the Christian Easter Story
As I was recounting the events of the Christian Holy Week with a group of children, Jess* waved her hand wildly in the…
MoreWhy Kids Need Silence
As a parent, I used to be suspicious of silence. If I wasn’t hearing sounds from the next room, I would wonder what…
MoreDurable Spiritual Learning
Recently, I watched several young children explore finger labyrinths for the first time. Most would race to see how…
MoreHelping Children Explore Rules
No running in the house. Look both ways before crossing the street. Treat others with respect. These common family…
MoreVisible Spiritual Thinking
My kids used to love puzzles that involved figuring out an unknown object from a close-up photo. They developed a set…
MoreChild-Led Spiritual Learning
As a child, I often was bored in school even though I loved to learn. I would quickly tune out adult monologues and rip…
MoreTalking with Kids about the Reversal of Roe v. Wade
Since the Supreme Court decision last month striking down Roe v. Wade, the news is full of stories about what the…
MoreGay Pride Spirituality
It’s Gay Pride Month, and families of all sorts are celebrating diversity. Colorful rainbow flags attract…
MoreProject-Based Spirituality
A few years ago, my children’s school decided to sponsor two Habitat for Humanity home builds. The actual…
MoreWelcoming Afghan Refugees
Many of the refugees airlifted to the U.S. out of Afghanistan last month are currently housed at Fort Lee in Virginia,…
MoreSpiritual Activities for Public Spaces
Children spend a lot of time in public spaces: shopping at grocery stores, waiting for buses, washing clothes at…
MoreSpiritual Reminiscing
Parents talk with young children about the past a lot. We remind them of the last time they saw their cousins. We…
MoreDeveloping Trust
When it comes to deciding what information about spirituality to trust and what to doubt, children acquire useful…
MoreGuided Play
When it comes to educating young children, we’ve all heard that play is an important part of learning. And yet, when…
MoreExplaining Gun Violence
Mass shootings have become commonplace in the U.S. No matter how a parent feels about gun control, the thought of…
MoreExploring Life & Death with Soul
Pixar movies are beloved by both children and adults for their creative stories, well-developed characters, and…
MoreChildren’s Spiritual Questions
“Mommy, why did Jennifer* get cancer?” This probing question from my nine year old daughter caught me off guard.…
MoreFamily Hospitality
“Look at what I made,” says my son, holding up to me his newest drawing. I respond, “Just one more second,…
MoreStimulating Spiritual Curiosity
When my children were younger, they regularly asked deep spiritual questions. Preschool drop-off conversations were…
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