Q & R: A recovering Modern raising kids …
Q & R:
I am a happily recovering Modern who is raising 6 children in a Post Modern world. They are asking different questions than I ever imagined as a young adult and I am looking for some recommendations on books that address parenting in the Post Modern Context. As a recovering religion junky I don’t often feel I am parenting from a position of strength. My wife and I have always viewed our resources as gifts from God that we must steward and I believe have been model Kingdom Citizens. It is not my example I am concerned with but my ability to have conversation with my kids that aren’t “Adventures in Missing the Point”. The things they are facing as young adults demands that we find ways to talk about life in a way that is real and relevant. Any help would be much appreciated!
Sincerely,
“Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.” -Frederick Buechner
Here’s the R:
You’re asking a tremendously important question – one about which I hope to do some serious writing in the next couple years. But I know that doesn’t help you now … and kids grow up fast.
So here are four suggestions, knowing that they don’t do justice to your question.
1. Talk about your spiritual experiences as much as you can … times when you feel God’s presence, a sense of worship and awe, insights from the Bible or books that enrich you, and so on … plus times of doubt, spiritual struggle, etc. Let them know what your faith is like.
2. Talk about how you read and interpret the Bible … honestly, showing both what inspires you and what troubles you.
3. Involve your kids in your sense of mission – talk to them about where you give money and why, bring them with you on a mission trip, explain your spiritual reasons for recycling and voting as you do, etc. Let them see how your faith affects your daily life.
4. Keep track of the people who will be speaking at the upcoming conference, “Children, Youth, and a New Kind of Christianity,” and come if you can. Info here:
http://children-youth.com/
Also – thanks for the Buechner quote. You gotta love that guy!