Raising Children

[goingslow]

I think this is a very good question.  Its actually something I have thought of myself.  

I dont think a parent should force metaphysical beliefs on their children.  I think a person has to come to it themselves, or else its a belief more than "knowing".  

I want to think about this for a while, but i think its an important question.  Ill come back to expand..im just not in the right frame of mind to do it now.

[Fat_Turkey]

I don't plan to raise children that way. I personally believe that the fear of ghosts and the like are part of the innocence of childhood, and that you shouldn't force something like "that is real, not your imagination" onto the child because they would live in fear. When they get older however, usually the age of 13-14 is good, they are no longer afraid. If they are told that ghosts are real, they might not believe at first - but then again, they aren't old enough for their beliefs to be set in stone.

Please don't say im contradicting myself if you are familiar with my "physical mind isn't everything" attitude. Beliefs are very much a physical thing, but many things a person goes through, including in childhood years, are a thing of the mind and soul, not of the physical brain. The physical brain takes in those beliefs, not the soul itself.

Well I'm out

Later
-FT

[Euphoric Sunrise]

I agree, i don't think parents shold force any beliefs on their children, but i'm so intrigued by what children apparently experience, and by what i have apparently experienced as a child (i remember virtually nothing of my younger childhood years at all). It's wonderful to think of how drastically different life would be if those things were adopted as a 'normal' part of life. A lot of the fun is discovring things exist that we aren't aware of when we are older though [8D].
It just kind of makes me feel... sad maybe that a lot of people die and are unaware of their spirit, what it can do, or just flat out refuse that they have one. Who knows, maybe they don't [] Their whole life may have been spent worrying about silly things while they rejected a whole different aspect of life.
I agree children are impressionable, and that's why i think just supporting the idea of other 'things' lightly might be a good idea.
Maybe the way we raise children now isn't the right way. As i said before, there are so many barriers that are installed in humans that shouldn't be there (in my opinion).
The more i read what i'm saying, though, the more i think i sound like i want to indoctrinate people. And reading the end of my original post i sound like i want to use children as test subjects lol! This is far from the truth. A part of me wants to give people as much freedom as possible, but another part of me doesn't want them to be affraid. I don't know if it's possible to have it both ways, but i'm going to do my best to find a way. The most important thing, in my opinion, is a child's safety and comfort.

timeless - It sounds as though you are doing a good job with your daughter. At the moment, that's probably what i would do, but i've got a fair few years to think it over i think [] and that's if i ever have kids.

[Euphoric Sunrise]

I was just replying to a topic in another forum about children and their apparent connection with the 'super-natural' and it struck me as an interesting topic for this place.
Is it a good idea to raise children to harness those abilities, if they infact posess them?
This question can be looked at in two ways:
Would you willingly expose your children to psychological dangers from other realms and hope that one day they can benifit from these 'powers'?
or
Would you reaise your children to be free from the constraints of society so that they can be one with the universe and hopefully achieve self-enlightenment?
This debate has it's positive and negative aspects.
Negatively, children could be teased, become mentally unstable, influenced by things that could harm them etc.
Positively, children could look at things in a different light from others and thus gain important knowledge into the world they live in that other children might/might not be privelaged to, they could gain a better understanding of themselves and of the universe etc.
From the moment of a child's birth there are restrictions placed upon it. There are strict rules of what is and isn't possible. As children get older they lose most contact with the spiritual world as these restrictions start to make an impact on the child. The idea is that we take these rules away from a child's world and help them to let their awareness flourish into something that could greatly help them in their journey for whatever it is they wish to achieve in life.
I'm by no means an expert on this subject, i was only exposed to the words 'astral projection' this year, but from what i've read in books and on the internet, i have a fair idea of what the children might face - both good and bad. And the only thing that i can see would be a problem with this way of raising children is the effect the bad things might have on them.
When children cry out to their parents and exlcaim that there has been a ghost in their bedroom, their parents calmy tell them that there's no such things as ghosts. What if the parents don't tell their children that? Would the children then live in fear of these ghosts until the parents can come up with another wa that might calm the children down. Is the cost for a child to harness this astral skill fear?
Again, i'm no adept in the area, and i'm certainly not a parent (i'm only 17).
Are there any parents here who have in fact raised, or begun raising, their children this way? I'm very interested to hear any results you might have, as this is an issue i might one day have to face with extreme seriousness.
Thanks!