10 Principles for Spiritual Parenting

June 29, 1998
A mother and daughter team up to show that God is in the details of parenting. Daughter Doe (coauthor of Drawing Angels Near: Children Tell of Angels in Words and Pictures) and mother Walch, a psychotherapist, offer guidelines and suggestions to help parents fan the spark of their children's natural imagination into the flame of spirituality and belief in God. The authors break down the task into 10 chapters ranging from "Know That God Cares for You" and "Trust and Teach That All Life Is Connected and Has a Purpose" to more down-to-earth advice on listening to children and encouraging their dreams. "Use the example of a flashlight beam cutting through the darkness," they advise about achieving goals. Understanding that "joy is the fire of dreams and brings hope," Doe and Walch encourage parents to help kids trust their natural enthusiasm and optimism to help them nurture themselves within moments of private time or in ad hoc family rituals or spontaneous creativity and play. There are exercises and affirmations at the end of each chapter intended to help adults and children experience and understand each principle. Many of the ideas here are worth trying, yet readers who do try to change and expand their family lives may discover that the authors' approach is sentimental and oversimplified. Many good kids balk at talk about God and angels. Honoring our children is an important subject, but just a spoonful of humor would have helped this sugary medicine go down in a more palatable way. First serial to Ladies' Home Journal.