Basic Spiritual Principles to Teach Children
The information provided in this section is offered with the intention to be used as a guide for parents. As you know, when our children are at a young age, they learn the most by watching the examples we set as parents.
If we as parents attempt to teach something to our children, but they observe us behave in such a way that is different than what we said, our actions will always speak louder than our words.
In contrast, if we as parents attempt to teach something to our children, and they in turn observe our words and actions consistent with what we taught them, we have modeled for our children what we truly believe.
One example of a spiritual principle which spans across all the world’s religions is…The Golden Rule. Simply stated, “Treat others like you would like to be treated.”
Here are some basic spiritual principles you can teach to your children, and in turn, you have given them a perspective and resources to use in life.
(If you have not already done so, as an additional resource, we encourage you to request the free informational papers offered in the right-hand margin).
A Perspective of God
An elementary and outdated view of God is to envision God sitting high up in heaven on a throne looking down on the world, passing judgment on every mistake we make. This perspective breeds a Fear of God, instead of a Love of God.
Let us not place God far away from us in a separate location. It is not like we are here and God is somewhere else. Thinking that God is separate from us or somewhere else is an illusion. You cannot be outside of all that there is.
God is consciousness and life itself.
Everything – in the physical and spiritual worlds – exists inside of the presence of God. God is everywhere (omnipresent).
God is right here, right now. We all live, move and have our being inside of the presence of God.
We are all a part of the whole…we call this whole, God. We can see God by being aware of how God manifests in our everyday life.
When we perceive the presence of God to be right here, right now, it is far easier to have a personal relationship with our all loving Divine Parent.
I am a Spiritual Being
You and your child(ren) have a spark or fragment of divinity housed within your soul.
Teach your child that they are a spiritual being.
It is this aspect of who you are which has been made in the image and likeness of God. It is your spiritual being which is housed (for the time being) in your physical body. The physical body is the outer, material covering.
While we are our children’s earthly parents, they also have Divine Parents. And because they too have Divine Parents, they too are sons and daughters of God, presently having a human experience.
When we understand, that at the core, we are spiritual beings, it is easier to view others as our spiritual brothers and sisters.
As an extension of this, it is not just us or our children, but every person who is a son or daughter of God.
This means everyone.
Each person, regardless of race, religion, color, gender or beliefs is a son or daughter of God. They too have an indwelling soul. They too have their existence as a part of the whole. We call the whole, God.
Love
Love is our natural state of being.
Everything we do is an act of moving towards or away from love.
Love is also a transformative power. The vibration of love sheds light in and through our lives and spreads out into the world around us.
Our love for each other is perhaps the greatest example of God’s presence manifesting in our everyday life.
Continuity of Life – Life Eternal
Before we were born (incarnated), we held our consciousness and awareness in the spirit world. When we are born, the essence of who we are enters into the physical body.
When a person dies in the material world, the opposites process takes place.
When the physical body dies, the spirit separates from the body and returns to the spiritual abode. Death is not an ending. It is a change from the spirit being clothed with flesh, to shedding the bodily garment which is no longer being used by the spirit.
Life continues on after the change called death.
Heaven and Hell can more accurately be thought of as states of consciousness verse actual geographic locations.
The Power of Communication – Also Known as Prayer
Instead of reiterating here on the Power of Prayer, we would like to refer you to two sources for more information.
- Peace: 5 Universal Tools to Obtain Peace in Your Life (offered in the right hand margin),
- The book “Seven Victories of the Divine Child” by author and spiritual teacher Michael Jones.
Believe in Faith
Belief and faith move us beyond the boundaries of what the five physical senses report to us as what is “real.”
The reality of Spirit calls us to move beyond only what we can see, hear, smell, touch and taste.
There are plenty of everyday things that we cannot see, but believe in because we experience them.
Examples include the microwaves that cook our food in our microwave ovens; or the radio and cellular waves that carry music to our cars and voices to our mobile telephones. We cannot see the waves, but we believe in them because we experience their results.
All these things, including spirit, are a matter of vibration (see the law of vibration under spiritual and natural laws).
As the old saying goes, seeing is not believing (anyone can do that), believing is seeing.
The belief comes first…
With our awareness wide open, we can witness the manifestations of God around us each day.
The Golden Rule
We find this universal spiritual principle in all the world’s religions.
Simply stated, “Treat others like you would like to be treated.”
This concept is not a new revelation…
In fact, not many people would take issue with it.
The difficulty in life is not in the agreement with, or in the understanding of, the concept of The Golden Rule. The difficulty, at times, comes in the form of consistent application of The Golden Rule.
What we model as parents, is observable by our children. What our children observe us do, influences them one way or another.
Practice Acceptance
You may be thinking, “acceptance of what or whom?”
The answer is, acceptance of what is.
Acceptance of events and acceptance of other people.
We do not have to filter every situation though our own “mental map” and then cast judgments. When we judge other people, we make them wrong and us right.
When we judge other people, we are really saying that based on our paradigm of how we see the world, here is my opinion.
We judge other people based on outward appearances (our personal perceptions) or outward behaviors, filtered through our ego-self created standards. There appears to be a constant urge to judge and label people and events going on around us.
Where does this urge to judge and label come from?
When we “judge and label” based on our own limited perception of reality, we create (quite unknowingly) a degree of disharmony within ourselves.
In relation to the other person we are judging and labeling, we can ask ourselves, “What is this soul’s history? What is this soul’s journey? What aspect of God is this soul trying to experience?”
When we are unable to fully answer these questions, we come to realize that judging others is a pointless exercise.
Instead, practice acceptance.
Under All Circumstances, Keep an Even Mind
Once shared by Andrew Jackson Davis, the advice of “under all circumstances, keep an even mind,” is as true today as when he wrote this over 150 years ago.
Especially in the case of children age fourteen and older, learning basic steps of Self Mastery can help them immensely.
To learn the ability to consciously choose our thoughts and emotions, as opposed to simply reacting to life out of habit, can be invaluable.
For many people, adults included, the mind is restless, anxious, racing and reactive.
There is stimulus and there is a response…
This stimulus and response reaction happens in our lives countless times each day. Most people give far too little thought or conscious choice between the stimulus of a situation, and their response to the situation.
We become reactive based on past patterns and past experiences.
Learning how to insert a “pause” between the stimulus and our response, allows a person to consciously choose how they will respond and not just react to life out of past patterns and conditioning.
Learning this skill will help your children manage their emotional roller-coaster.
Admittedly, this takes some practice in the beginning. However, beginning to learn this at a young age can benefit a person for the rest of their life!
Everything Counts
It is important to be mindful of what we feed into our subconscious mind.
Everything counts.
What we allow to go into our mind, at some level, influences us.
This does not mean our children should not watch television or play computer games. However, as parents, we can be mindful (especially during critical developmental years) as to what we are choosing to allow our children to watch, learn or play.
As with most things in life, we would recommend a healthy balance. At the end of the day, you, as the parent, are responsible to help guide your children using your best judgment.
Remember, everything counts.
In Conclusion
We realize that this is just a mere summation of everything that could be written on the topic of Spiritual Principles to Teach Children. Many topics such as compassion, mercy, forgiveness, selfless service and others are modeled in our everyday life.
During a recent presentation, I heard something that I liked and has stuck with me…I would like to share it with you…
A measure of our true spirituality can be determined by our thoughts, our words and our actions 24/7. Not just by one or two hours per week on Saturday or Sunday out of the 168 hours in a week.
Take one step at a time.
It isn’t what happens to us in life, but how we respond to what happens to us that matters most.
We truly hope that the information offered here can be helpful to you and your children.
Many Blessings to you!
