SelfhelpMagazine

by Richard B. Patterson, Ph.D.

The first decision you have to make is whether you consider involvement in an organized religion to be a facet of spiritual health. If you do, then you may want to place some emphasis on the values which your religion espouses, rather than placing an emphasis on sin. You also need to decide how tolerant you will be of your children's questions and expressions of doubt. Keep in mind that doubts reflect questions and questions give rise to the constant search for God.

When your children become teenagers, be prepared for an onslaught. This is a time of intense searching and so your teenager may stand at odds with your religion. If you insist on their involvement, keep in mind that you will shortly lose that control.

If you make a distinction between religion and spirituality, it may be important to help your children understand that religion is one very good road to God but not the only road. There is nature. There is music, dance, and other art forms. God can even be found in science as reflected in recent writings of a number of physicists such as Stephen Hawking.

The bottom line, however, is that if religion and spirituality are important to you, live what you preach to your children. If your children detect major discrepancies between what your spouse and what you live, the damage to their spiritual worlds will be significant.

About the Author:

Richard B. Patterson, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist in private practice in El Paso, TX. He is the author of three books on psychology and spirituality.