The greatest gift you can give your son or daughter is a deep, authentic relationship with God. God created your child to be naturally curious about spiritual matters. Twelve spiritual windows open at different times and in different ways. Each is a vital part of your child’s spiritual journey through four important areas of growth: enjoying God, loving God, following God, and serving God. You can strengthen these areas in your child by learning how to respond to the: Enjoying God Window Wonder Window Worship Window Loving God Window Bible Window Prayer Window Ownership Window Obedience Window Church Window Joy of Helping Window Spiritual Gifts Window Heritage Window Worship Window

More and more children are expressing spiritual qualities, and parents, caregivers, pediatricians, teachers, and therapists are increasingly taking notice of children's spiritual lives. Mollie Painton, Psy.D., a well-known child therapist, helps parents understand this phenomenon in the framework of spiritual intelligence. By understanding this concept, we can honor our children's gifts and develop our own spiritual intelligence along the way. Any parent whose child has had an imaginary friend, talked with a deceased relative, or been receptive to the pain and emotion of others will find guidance and inspiration in Encouraging your Child's Spiritual Intelligence. Dr. Painton's thoughtful quizzes and advice provide added support and insight throughout the book. Adults, who have had their own spiritual experiences in childhood dismissed, will rediscover their original spiritual connection and become valuable spiritual partners with their children.

Growing Your Child's Spiritual Garden offers a warm and inspiring collection of lessons designed to teach children and adults alike. They are lessons of nurturing and respecting one another, with solutions to create positive outcomes experienced through the love and joy of gardening together. It portrays and teaches better communication skills between an adult and a child. In this story Sherra has worked very hard creating this enchanting garden and in the quickest of moments, a young, impish child has become destructive. Sherra is outraged by the destructive behavior of the child and reacts poorly and becomes very angry with the young child. Which causes a chain reaction of negative behavior. The story then turns and shows how an adult and child can both make a mistake. It teaches communication skills how to correct the mistake, learn forgiveness and create positive and happy outcomes and solutions. It offers a glossary of terms, and child safe websites for creating children's gardens. In addition the author offers a Free Package of WC Spiritual Garden Seeds to encourage adults and children to grow and create their own spiritual garden together. This book shows that taking the time to listen, care, and putting forth the efforts to understand one another is the nourishment that ultimately brings to life the seeds of our flowers; which are our children. These are just a few of the lessons of the W.C. Spiritual Garden book series. A portion of the proceeds from the purchase of Growing Your Child's Spiritual garden will go to various charitable organizations that help to feed and nourish children in The United States and around the world. This Book encourages adults and children to read together and offers support for the older child who wishes to read independently

This total child care book offers Christian- centered, medically authoritative advice on every aspect of parenting, from choosing an obstetrician to disciplining teenagers. As parents of eight children, William and Martha Sears draw on thirty years of practical and professional experience, resulting in a valuable reference book no family should be without.

Exploring and Engaging Spirituality for Today's Children: A Holistic Approach answers questions about the most effective ways to help children, pre-teens, and teens develop spiritually. This collection of research gleaned from presentations during the Fourth Triennial Children's Spirituality Conference at Concordia University in 2012 is divided into four major sections: (1) theological and historical foundations, (2) engaging parents and congregations, (3) engaging methodologies, and (4) exploring children at risk, child pornography, social justice, intercultural diversity, and abstinence education. Researchers acknowledge that the home is the foundation for Christian nurture. In Exploring and Engaging Spirituality for Today's Children, both scholars and ministry leaders come together with parents to promote a holistic environment where children are encouraged to love, respect, and obey God. From birth to high school, children's voices resonate throughout these studies as they are invited to share their reflections and experiences. Exploring and Engaging Spirituality for Today's Children is a lively, easy-to-read collection that reflects a broad range of faith traditions and is ideal for all those who are committed to the spiritual development of children.

In this book some 25 scholars focus on the relationship between religion, children's literature and modernity in Western Europe since the Enlightenment (c. 1750). They examine various aspects of the phenomenon of children's literature, such as types of texts, age of readers, position of authors, design and illustration. The role of religion in giving meaning both in a substantive sense as well as through the institutionalised churches is studied from an interdenominational point of view (Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism and Anglicanism). Finally, the contribution of pedagogy and child psychology in the interaction between modernity, religion and children's literature is also discussed.Various articles give a broad overview of the tensions between aesthetics and ethics and the demand for cultural autonomy in the development of children's literature. Children's bibles and missionary stories played an important part in the growing diversification of children's literature, as did the publication of illustrated reviews for children. Remarkable differences are highlighted in the involvement of religious societies and institutions, episcopally approved publishing houses and supervisory bodies in the publication, distribution and supervision of children's literature. This volume adopts a comparative approach in exploring the underlying religious, ideological and cultural dimensions of children's literature in modern society.)

In The Spiritual Child, psychologist Lisa Miller presents the next big idea in psychology: the science and the power of spirituality. She explains the clear, scientific link between spirituality and health and shows that children who have a positive, active relationship to spirituality: * are 40% less likely to use and abuse substances * are 60% less likely to be depressed as teenagers * are 80% less likely to have dangerous or unprotected sex * have significantly more positive markers for thriving including an increased sense of meaning and purpose, and high levels of academic success. Combining cutting-edge research with broad anecdotal evidence from her work as a clinical psychologist to illustrate just how invaluable spirituality is to a child's mental and physical health, Miller translates these findings into practical advice for parents, giving them concrete ways to develop and encourage their children's—as well as their own—well-being. In this provocative, conversation-starting book, Dr. Miller presents us with a pioneering new way to think about parenting our modern youth.

This book is an invaluable resource for enabling teachers, religious educators, and families to learn about religious diversity themselves and to teach children about both their own religion as well as the beliefs of others. The traditions featured include indigenous beliefs throughout the world, Native American spirituality, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity (Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Protestantism), Islam, Sikhism, and other beliefs such as Bahá'í, Unitarian Universalism, Humanism, and Atheism. Each chapter highlights a specific religion or spiritual tradition with a brief discussion about major beliefs, misconceptions, sacred texts, and holy days or celebrations. This summary of each tradition is followed by extensive annotated recommendations for children’s and adolescent literature as well as suggested teaching strategies. The recommended literature includes informational books, traditional religious stories, and fiction with religious themes. Teachers, religious educators, and family members will find the literature from these genres to be invaluable tools for bridging the religious experience of the child with that of the global society in which they live.

A wide array of renowned scholars and practitioners share their ideas for teaching about God from a Jewish perspective in this comprehensive collection. This enlightening yet practical resource includes ready-to-use lessons for preschool through adult and family education as well as background material to enrich the teacher's own sense of God and spirituality. Chapters include: "Writing a Personal Theology," by Dr. Neil Gillman; "The Changing Perceptions of God in Judaism," by Rabbi Rifat Sonsino; "The Spiritual Condition of American Jews," by Dr. David Ariel; "The Image of God as Teacher," by Dr. Hanan Alexander; "Spiritual Mentoring," by Dr. Carol Ochs; "Tell Me a Story," by Rabbi Sandi Eisenberg Sasso.