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Children’s Spirituality. Mary Hawes January 2011. Children’s Spirituality. Painting by numbers?. Children’s Spirituality. Looking at the landscape…. Baby/toddler 3 – 5 years 5 – 7 years 8 – 11 years. Children’s Spirituality.
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Children’s Spirituality Mary Hawes January 2011
Children’s Spirituality Painting by numbers?
Children’s Spirituality Looking at the landscape….. Baby/toddler 3 – 5 years 5 – 7 years 8 – 11 years
Children’s Spirituality • Children…have spiritual abilities that defy conventional chronological categories of faith development. Religious faith does not develop in quite the same way as other parts of our bodies and minds from small to large or from immature to mature. Growing up, in fact, does not guarantee spiritual development. Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore
Children’s Spirituality • Full of potential
Children’s Spirituality • Children should be helped to develop the spiritual qualities of wonder and inner peace – and the sense of something greater than themselves……No child is complete without some passionate spiritual engagement of this kind. • A Good Childhood: Layard & Dunn
Children’s Spirituality • Nourishing the roots • Being shaped • Shooting and fruiting
Children’s Spirituality • Space • Process • Imagination • Relationship • Intimacy • Trust
Children’s Spirituality SPACE • Physical • Focus • Threshold to the sacred • Emotional • Stillness and silence
Children’s Spirituality PROCESS • Journey not end result • Genuine open questions • Opportunity to explore
Children’s Spirituality IMAGINATION • Looking at things differently • Spontaneity • Opening windows not closing doors
Children’s Spirituality RELATIONSHIP • More than words • Depth of engagement • Integrity • With each other • With God
Children’s Spirituality INTIMACY • Coming close • Feeling safe • Becoming vulnerable
Children’s Spirituality TRUST • Trusting the child • Trusting God • Trusting the material
Children’s Spirituality Church/Collective Worship child-friendly? child-spirituality friendly? What are the foundations we are laying to support the child’s spiritual growth?
Going for Growth • Growth… • In spirituality • In understanding • In quality of care and nurture • In children and young people themselves
Children’s Spirituality http://www.going4growth.org.uk
Children’s Spirituality • Children’s Spirituality • Dr Rebecca Nye
Children’s Spirituality Through the Eyes of a Child ed. Richards and Privett