Back to Children's Spirituality

On the serious side I'll tell you how our kids' time goes for Song of Songs after Sunday.

I'm reading Children's Spirituality again. Catherine Stonehouse "Children in Wesleyan Thought." I enjoyed her book, Joining Children on Their Spiritual Journey: Nurturing a Life of Faith.

It was interesting (from her article in CS p. 133-148) that Wesley, as a Christian leader, was so atuned to children. Encouraging parents to provide "nurturing environments" for their children, Sunday school, home devotions and instruction, Christian school all came from a deep belief that children were people to be nurtured and encouraged in the faith at whatever age they demonstrated interest and response.

I was especially looking forward to reading this because I transcribed my great-grandmother's diaries a few years back. She was having kids around the turn of the century and I was captivated by her attention to her children and her astute observations. They were very strict, straight-laced, religious Victorians so her observations surprised me. They were also faith-filled Methodists. So, thinking back, as a child I was interacting with 60-90 year old faith-filled people who had been strictly raised and deeply loved. I get to ponder that for a while.