I want to raise my children pagan?

Question

I am pregant, 7 weeks. I was just thinking that I want to raise my child to be a pagan like me. I won't let superstitious beliefs like from the bible corrupt and scare my baby. I was wondering if there were any other pagan parents out there that could give me some tips on it. I'm an eclectic kitchen witch and my husband is an Odinist. Any tips on how to make this work?

That is not what I am saying. I did not say I was going to shelter them. I am merely going to teach them my beliefs in the goddesses and gods, nature, the different creation stories and how they are related. I am not going to put them in church and definitely teach them about hating other religions because they are different.

I was just wanting some tips from OTHER pagans not christians who think they know better.

I never said I was going to force them to believe in what I say. My parents did that. I will teach them what I know. They can believe whatever they want. They choice for themselves whenever they want. I became a witch when I was 11. I hid that for 7 years until they no longer had a say in anything. If they want to be an atheist then fine good for them. I am not stupid, I don't believe without reason.

The superstitious beliefs I was talking about it hell and heaven. I was horrified that I was going to go hell one day because my stepfather told me I was evil and that no matter what I did, even if he beat it out me, which he did, would make me good. I am never going to be like that.

Answer 1

if you bring your children up with love, it will turn out fine :)

I have a daughter aged 14 and a son aged 10 I am a druidic pagan and so is my husband. Our children have always attended ceremonies with us, and any questions they had have been answered. They go to a state shool, where they learn about many different religions (but not paganism) and if they come home with any questions about that, we do our best to answer those too, and if we don't know the answers we will research them together.
But they have always known that when (and if) they decide they want to follow a particular belief system, the choice of it will be up to them.
Currently my son (aged10) says he is pagan (but being so young there is much time for him to change this) My daughter (aged 14) is currently exploring Buddhism, although she has made no decision yet to call herself Buddhist, so she too will perhaps change.
Whatever belief system they choose (or don't) will be fine by us.
We all follow our own paths, and they all lead to the same place

Answer 2

I'm Pagan married to a Deist and our families are Christian. In my house we celebrate Yule... I do more of the religious stuff than my hub or my 19 yr old son does. But the food and stories, etc... are all done together. On Christmas Eve (Yule is 12 days long), we go to my parents house where we celebrate Christmas. Though they are Christians, they aren't overly religious/fundies... and usually stick a pretty secular "party" with the normal Christmas stories, the food, the CHOCOLATE!!! oops, sorry... I have never pushed my beliefs on anyone. Even while observing/celebrating Pagan holidays, I only go so far as the rest of the family is willing to go and the rest I do alone (ritual, etc...) Though, that really isn't much of a problem in my house, since my son is also Pagan and my husband enjoys learning about these things... he just doesn't participate. =) It would be hard to explain that to a 5 yr old. I didn't have to do any deep explanations till my kid was almost 11. So I can't give any advice on that as I'm not sure how to explain it to a 5 yr old. No, you can't request excused absence for Wiccan Holildays. There's really only one "Christian" Holiday kids get off and that falls within their Winter Break. That's just something you will have to work around or maybe consider homeschool.

Answer 3

Dear Lady Aqua Moon,

First congratulations to you and your husband. Secondly, my understanding of witches is that witches themselves are not open to younger people learning "the Craft" until they are at last age 18 and right now i think your biggest concern should be having a healthy baby.

Paganism is based on many superstitious beliefs and so it seems like you've a specific lack of affinity towards the Bible. It's hard for me to comprehend yoru point of view- because the things the Bible teaches are not corruptive and "scary," but the main message of the Bible is Love. God's love for people.

I think we can all teach our children about love and agree that's a good thing- and i'm not saying that the Bible has to be the source you use to teach your children about love. i'm just saying i think you're misunderstanding what the Bible is for.

i think you and your husband have to get together and figure out how you are going to raise your child- and do the best you can.

I truly wish you a healthy baby and a happy family.

Kindly,

Nickster

Answer 4

It sounds to me that you are OK with every other religion but Christianity. If you ever read the Bible then you would know that there is nothing in there that would leave you afraid, it would empower you. The word fear does not even enter into the Christians heart, with Christ we are secure and Not afraid of what the world throws at us. Superstitious beliefs come from Pagen religions, if you were to study religions you would understand this. As a Christian your child would learn to love, care for all mankind, pray for each other, help the poor, help those in need, be kind to all, yet your child would have many gifts from God. I don't understand why anyone would not want their child to have these things. The Bible tells us that we should fear the Lord. That is because we are human and we all sin, God is perfect, so I like to explain the fear this way. If you were leaving town and you told your child not to take the family care any place. They were NOT TO DRIVE while you were gone, but the very second that they knew you were out of town they took the car and started driving all over, they even went over town to buy you a birthday gift. When you were gone they smashed up the car. Do you think your child would fear your return? I would say yes. That is because they sinned. They did what you told them not to do and they fear you, but it is not because you don't love them, because we know that you would love your child. The child fears you because they made a big mistake and sinned against you and it is going to cost you a lot of money to fix it. Now if the child told you, but mom, I took the car to buy you a birthday present, would you be happier? Or would you be happier if they would have obeyed you? I would say that every good parent would be much happier if the child obeyed them. See, God is not so different from us when we are trying to raise our children. The only difference is that God never sinned, He was made to be sin so that we can enter into heaven and live with him forever. This is the greatest gift that you could give your child. The gift of salvation. You can say that God does not exist, you can worship the creation and not the creator, but that still does not mean that God does not exist. Just because some people thought that the world was flat did not make the world flat, just because you don't believe in God does not mean that he does not exist. Why would you prepare your child with a good education to make it through this life and deny them the knowledge of what would keep them out of hell? Knowing Jesus is as their savior is all it would take and yet you would rather see them in hell? That does not make any sense to me. I am sorry, I always believed that mothers loved their children and wanted the best for their children. I believe that you do too, so why deny them the truth?

Answer 5

Well, I actually think it is a good idea. There will be a lot of influence from peers and teachers, but if you also teach them that there are many pathways, and that you chose the Pagan one, they might be better prepared for what they will face. In truth, they will eventually chose the path that seems to fit their own personalities. If they are raised to understand how all pathways work it might be better for them. Teaching them that Paganism is the best isn't any better than a christian family teaching their children that christian is best. Personally, I feel that a good educational background is the best, and that the freedom to chose far outweighs a one-sided experience. Best of luck and Merry Meet..

Answer 6

The only advice I will offer at this time is of making as much information available about the subject to the child when questions start popping up.The more truths in info you have concerning other religions and practices and the more you can offer them to the child the easier it will be for H or H to decide for themself respectively.If you live pagan then be one and give the kid a base to work with.When H or S gets older Tell them why it works for you guys, and reinforce the importance of free will and beliefs.Honesty and being true to yourself shows the child more by action than you could ever explain with words.So keep it real.

Answer 7

Raising your children as pagans is no different than a Catholic raising their Child Catholic or any othe religion raising their child with their beliefs. Teach your children what you and your husband believe. Yes they will have questions later in life when the are presented with other beliefs. Answer those questions openly and honestly. However, you say that you will not teach your children to hate other religions but you are condeming other religons in your question. I personally am not a religious person. I believe in Father God and Mother God but I do not believe in any one religon. However I do not look down on other peoples beliefs. I will listen to their beliefs and take what I feel I need to take from them and their teachings that I can apply to my life. If there are areas that we do not agree upon so be it. I do not have to change my beliefs to conform to theirs nor do they have to change their beliefs to conform to mine. So while you think the bible is superstitious others believe it is the word that they should live by. Don't condem them for that. We all need to learn to love eachother no matter what religious beliefs that we all have, Good luck to you and congratulations on your new baby

Answer 8

I know you were hoping to hear from other pagans...but I hope you don't mind me answering. I'm a Christian of one year. Now, I'm not going to tell you that you need to convert or anything like that, because it's not my business.

However, I WILL go ahead and answer your question.

I would recommend that you do the same thing with your children (congrats on your pregnancy, by the way!) that my parents did with me. They DID raise me in their religion (Christianity), but made sure that I had access to information about other religions. When I had questions, my dad (and then after dad passed away, mom) tried to answer them. If they couldn't, they referred me to something (usually a book) that they thought WOULD help.

I spent a lot of years not being a Christian (nearly thirteen, preceded by eight years of skepticism), but I finally had to admit that I think my parents were right all along.

Perhaps it'll be the same with your children. Don't ever seek to limit them. Tell them what you believe, and then let them find out on their own if you're right or not. That's what my parents did, and that's probably what I'll do.

I wish you the best of luck!

Answer 9

First of all, I am a former pagan and currently am agnostic.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, you have to be the most bigoted person I've seen yet on this site? Why not expose your kid to every belief system and let him/her choose? To say that "superstitious beliefs like from the bible" will "corrupt and scare my baby" is ridiculous - paganism is no different and no better religion than any other.

Answer 10

Teach your child to believe in and rely on themselves. Show them to question the world around them, and question further when a bad explanation is given. Skepticism and a strong sense of self is a way to make sure your child chooses what is right for them. If you are just raising them pagan for the sake of being a pagan, this will not work, but emphasize freedom of opinion, and make them defend their opinions with factual information.