At the ripe old age of six, I will never forget my first early childhood learning experience regarding another playmate’s faith. Up until this point, I had no reason to believe that there was any other religion than Christianity. All of a sudden, I found myself captivated by stories from the Old Testament as told to me by a Jewish childhood friend whom I had not known was Jewish until this very conversation. I came home brimming with excitement and could not wait to share these stories with my siblings and was surprised at the less than excited response of my parents.

They were very careful to not denigrate this other faith, but they also made it a point to downplay my enthusiasm, and it was clear that they were not comfortable with this orientation. In retrospect, I believe their discomfort was based on the fact that they did not manage or control this orientation and in this, a sense that my own spiritual identity might be compromised in some way. As an adult, I am not going to say that their concerns were totally ungrounded. While I don’t think a few stories are enough to sway even a young six year old, consistent conversations with a passionate child associate in an unmanaged (outside of my parents) environment could in fact, have long term repercussions. The answer – bring the premise of other faiths to the child before they bring it to you. There is nothing at all threatening to me about having this type of discussion with a young child. More to the point, the argument could very well be made that under this managed from of introduction, I have the opportunity to expound on some of the similarities and differences between my / our chosen faith other faiths that will actually sharpen my child’s spiritual identity. Contrast has a way of bringing this about. One caution that I would share with parents of young kids in this approach – take care not to develop a sense of superiority. The balance is, be proud of who you are, but be respectful of others. These attributes are not mutually exclusive. At the end of the day, I personally will be ok if my child chooses to follow another spiritual path other than the one that I have chosen, but only after they have truly gained a sense of my faith. We’re not innocent bystanders in this process.