Photo by N0 Photoshop, used under Creative Commons license. Today our son asked us what “god” is. He started kindergarten last week, and has religious grandparents, but has never been to church or had any kind of religious upbringing due to myself and his father being staunch atheists.
How do you have the atheist talk? We don’t believe in any religion, therefore we don’t have any literature, examples, or classes to give him. We tried to explain what other people think “god” is, but just couldn’t find the words to describe it. He ended up thinking that there is a god who is a magician who lies to people, which is not what we want him to think. — Jen
We’ve discussed talking about religious deities with your kids, but not about telling your kid you don’t believe in any religion at all. What have you guys tried?
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Comments on How do you tell your kid you’re an atheist?
First step, be openminded… don’t laugh at the fact others believe in a supreme being.
My husband pretty much bluntly told my step son that he’s an atheist and then explained to him why he doesn’t believe in a god before we where together. Later after my husband learnt my beliefs he wanted me to explain them to my step son. He wanted him to have variety. (I think he already had his mind made up, he kinda idolizes his father in ways.) If you want your child to make up their own mind, it probably would be best to wait on telling them your beliefs until you have unbiasedly explained many different belief systems to them. That way they have their own freedom to choose.
When I was around 20 (like 9 years ago) I use to day dream about writing children’s books about religion tolerance. Like a bunch of kids or animals that hang out that are all friends but each individual one has their own beliefs. But literature isn’t my strong subject 🙂
I was raised by my “Baptist” grandmother, but she didn’t believe in organized religion. She was just raised Baptist so she called her self one. The neighbor would take me to church with them because my grandmother and mother neither attended. My grandmother passed away when I was 6, so this was before then.. I asked her how it was possible for anything to be infinite, how is there enough room in heaven, and how could there be enough souls. She explained reincarnation to me and it stuck, it was the only thing that made any since to me. My beliefs have built from that ever since.
I plan on showing my step daughters different religions and cultures thru themed parties for different holidays and celebration times… show them the positive now, then discuss the negative with them later in life 🙂
After you have explained all views to them, then explain yours.
My husband is Atheist and I am Pagan. My mum is Roman Catholic, my Dad is Protestant, and my Hubbys dad is a Vicar! Although our son is only 10 months old, we have had thought hard and talked a lot about how we will deal with the religious questions when they come up. Sometimes when my hubby goes off on an Atheist rant, I feel that he unintentionally derides me for believing in something different and I have discussed this with him – I don’t want him to make our son feel ‘silly’ if he decides to believe in faeries or angels or goblins or God/dess. We have decided to consciously use ‘I’ statements – ‘I feel’ and ‘I believe’, but highlight that other people feel and think differently (which shouldn’t be hard with parents with different views). We are in the process of drawing up a world religions calender, where we can highlight different festivals. Hopefully by showing such a huge diversity our son will see that the world is a big, culturally diverse and religiously (or non-religiously or just spiritually) varied environment. Hopefully we will learn something too, just by collating the information for him! I do agree that children live in a magical world, and I don’t want to strip that part of his childhood from him. I also agree that asking them what they think is important for personal growth – and he may just surprise us with his answers!
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First step, be openminded… don’t laugh at the fact others believe in a supreme being.
My husband pretty much bluntly told my step son that he’s an atheist and then explained to him why he doesn’t believe in a god before we where together. Later after my husband learnt my beliefs he wanted me to explain them to my step son. He wanted him to have variety. (I think he already had his mind made up, he kinda idolizes his father in ways.) If you want your child to make up their own mind, it probably would be best to wait on telling them your beliefs until you have unbiasedly explained many different belief systems to them. That way they have their own freedom to choose.
When I was around 20 (like 9 years ago) I use to day dream about writing children’s books about religion tolerance. Like a bunch of kids or animals that hang out that are all friends but each individual one has their own beliefs. But literature isn’t my strong subject 🙂
I was raised by my “Baptist” grandmother, but she didn’t believe in organized religion. She was just raised Baptist so she called her self one. The neighbor would take me to church with them because my grandmother and mother neither attended. My grandmother passed away when I was 6, so this was before then.. I asked her how it was possible for anything to be infinite, how is there enough room in heaven, and how could there be enough souls. She explained reincarnation to me and it stuck, it was the only thing that made any since to me. My beliefs have built from that ever since.
I plan on showing my step daughters different religions and cultures thru themed parties for different holidays and celebration times… show them the positive now, then discuss the negative with them later in life 🙂
After you have explained all views to them, then explain yours.
My husband is Atheist and I am Pagan. My mum is Roman Catholic, my Dad is Protestant, and my Hubbys dad is a Vicar! Although our son is only 10 months old, we have had thought hard and talked a lot about how we will deal with the religious questions when they come up. Sometimes when my hubby goes off on an Atheist rant, I feel that he unintentionally derides me for believing in something different and I have discussed this with him – I don’t want him to make our son feel ‘silly’ if he decides to believe in faeries or angels or goblins or God/dess. We have decided to consciously use ‘I’ statements – ‘I feel’ and ‘I believe’, but highlight that other people feel and think differently (which shouldn’t be hard with parents with different views). We are in the process of drawing up a world religions calender, where we can highlight different festivals. Hopefully by showing such a huge diversity our son will see that the world is a big, culturally diverse and religiously (or non-religiously or just spiritually) varied environment. Hopefully we will learn something too, just by collating the information for him! I do agree that children live in a magical world, and I don’t want to strip that part of his childhood from him. I also agree that asking them what they think is important for personal growth – and he may just surprise us with his answers!