Welcome to Gaia! ::

I am Pagan, but I don't keep up with practicing very well. I think we may have a couple others here who are Pagan as well.

With me htough, I am still "in the broom closet" so to speak when it comes to my family and some friends, so I intertwine a bit of Christianity in as well. My goal is to give my kids a BROAD basis for spirituality from which they can eventually make their own informed decision about which path they'd like to take. I am open-minded about these kinds of things.

So, while I am Pagan, we practice and learn about MANY different religeons and such.

im becomming Pagan.. slowly.

that is to say... i've finally found something i can believe..

I used to be Pagan, but im not anymore. A few of my friends are, and im not gonna hide that from my child. It may have not been right for me, but it is for others. I figure, if you force a religion, it will be regected. Im a Christian, but i still believe in some Pagan things. Its best (in my opinion) to let the child choose their own path as they become old enough.

You can incorporate a variety of ritual and traditions with your children . A lot of so called Christian holly days predate christianity and you can discuss some of the origins with children and include your own sacred traditions that will not seem too odd to other people . So the kids can eat "eostre buns" in Spring and decorate with ever greens in winter.
These seasonal celebrations are a bit trickier in my half of the workd as they clash with the christian calendar. So we kind of have to find our own ways to practice mixed beliefs.
i have discussed pagan beliefs and christian beliefs with primary school studets as part of a social studies lesson on easter and this was accepatable to school curriculum , so you are only being responsible to give your kids and open minded history lesson .
try researching what sort of groups are in your area and you may find some that get together for seasonal festivals . I think Waldorf schools do a lot to celebrate seasonal "festivals" and have very nature based teachings which could integrate well with your beliefs. Some people like the teaching style for encouraging imagination , play and creativity . But you might appreciate the acceptance of nature based belief (hey , a school that will let your kids believe in the Fae)
http://www.steiner-australia.org/other/Wald_faq.html
I would not have a problem with parents doing skyclad ceremonies as i was raised as a nudist . but some ceremonies are sacred to adults and some are celebrations for the whole family.
http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/parenting/ <---- here are some sources to play with . sorry i am a bit vague tonight . Hayfever playing havoc with my brain.
i just try to raise my child with an understaniding of different beliefs and the ceremonies / traditions we develop ourselves. She is back in a happy little "jesus Freak" phase , can stare for hours at a pic of Mary Breastfeeding him . so after christ-mass we may look at some other mother figure goddesses . but she also happily skips around naked in her faerie garden and sings songs to help her herbs grow.
hugs ,
Theresa

That's so wrong. Nudity is natural, guys. What child hasn't seen at least some family member or other naked?



:nod:

I'm a happy heathen, my hubby is a Christian witch. We're raising our children with tolerance. If they have a question we give them answers that incorporate both sides, and let them decide what makes the most sense to them. Well right now that technique works only with my oldest, my youngest just likes the pretty pictures.

Pictures?

My sister's a witch along the same lines as me... lots of beliefs, an all-encompassing Diety (refered to in the plural because They are all gods and godesses) and lots of other insanity. She's a lot more ritual-based than me, but the beliefs are mostly the same. Her husband is a heathen. They have two eight-year-olds. Their son calls himself a barbarian ("heathen" gets lost) and their daughter wears a pentacle to school most days. We've convinced her to hide it though. While the two of them are open and accepting (except Thomas's unexplainable desire to burn Christian monks) we all know that other kids and their parents aren't. Even if we didn't know this before we'd know it now, since the house gets egged every other day and the parents in the neighborhood won't let their kids near the twins.