The Important Role of Spiritual Development in Early Childhood Education
Filed under: The Important Role of Spiritual Development in Early Childhood Education
When we think of the early child development stages, we invariably think of the physical, mental, and emotional aspects. Take care not to leave the spiritual component out of this early childhood teaching process. Having your child participate in classes and activities at your place of worship is certainly a major part of the early childhood learning experience, but the recognition of the existence of other belief systems and respect for the people of these other belief systems will make for a more spiritually grounded child.
Spiritually grounded? This sounds impressive, but what does spiritually grounded really mean? When one thinks of a ‘grounded’ person, we think the person has his or her feet on the ground – he or she knows who he or she is, and he or she is comfortable with that. Taken in the context with faith, it simply means that the person has a clear spiritual identity, and is very comfortable with this identity.
Wearing cool kids t shirts blaring a statement of faith doesn’t make the child anymore spiritually grounded than me claiming I am an astronaut just because I am wearing a helmet – it’s what’s going on inside the child that determines this. Make no mistake – what goes on inside your child is not a random act of nature or genetics. It’s the impressions, or rather his or she interpretation and assimilation of the experiences in his life that comprises your child’s inner workings, and last time we looked, you, the parent still have the greatest ability to impact these impressions.
Comments
Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!