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So you don't believe in parenting. Parenting is all about giving simplified answers until such time as the child is ready to learn more. When a child is young you paint with a broad brush. You tell them sky is blue (even though it isn't), that cats say meow (even though they don't). As they grow and learn, you give them opportunities to ask more questions. You explain in more detail, with more nuance.
The alternative is to give complete answers( which is virtually impossible, since much of what we "know" as adults is still an approximation or something that is not entirely true) or no answers. Neither of these are feasible, so you start with first order approximations, and reveal more detail as they are ready for it...
I do agree that care should be taken to not stifle their desire to learn, but that has to be balanced with their ability to understand.
-NoCapo
Above introduces another way to manage the topic with the kid.
Plus junior already knows in general what the god word represents, otherwise the no will do answer wouldn't be possible,
there is ongoing exploring, the exploring is overthrown from a position of power.
[quote=Drew K;35045520
there is ongoing exploring, the exploring is overthrown from a position of power.[/quote]
The only way this is true is if the parent does not expand their answers to match the child's cognitive ability. If a parent simply answers "No" forever, and refuses to ever explain further, to to present the issue in a more nuanced way, then yes it becomes indoctrination. But there is a balance between refusing to give a child an age appropriate answer, for completeness sake, and quashing their ability to question and reason. I don't think anyone in this thread has any desire to do that.
I was just thinking here, do people actually think people are born god dumb ? or at least not far off from recognizing their human condition
they learn the language and whatever translation of system and culture, but if this is going to be argued we would need to see where anywhere, there is any kind of a big surprise with respects to the growing process in this area, anywhere.
I think we are born "God dumb". Religion is learned. I do think human beings have a tendency to anthropomorphize and to try to attribute motive or agency, to the world around us, but the leap from that to "god" is in my opinion a learned, cultural thing.
i just wonder why people are having discussions with 5 yr old on religion
doesnt make much sense to me...kids shouldnt be concerned with adult things at that age.. they should be learning math and reading, playing with friends and living carefree as much as possible
kids are a sponge, what if someone decided to teach their 5 yr olds that non white people are evil and stuff like that. would that be ok to hardcode in them?
I think we are born "God dumb". Religion is learned. I do think human beings have a tendency to anthropomorphize and to try to attribute motive or agency, to the world around us, but the leap from that to "god" is in my opinion a learned, cultural thing.
-NoCapo
I deleted it because it was off topic , also I didn't make any connection to rel in the idea other then what is learned in whatever culture etc the person is born into, so this above does not address the point . Anyway another topic and I will read the other one.
The only way this is true is if the parent does not expand their answers to match the child's cognitive ability. If a parent simply answers "No" forever, and refuses to ever explain further, to to present the issue in a more nuanced way, then yes it becomes indoctrination. But there is a balance between refusing to give a child an age appropriate answer, for completeness sake, and quashing their ability to question and reason. I don't think anyone in this thread has any desire to do that.
-NoCapo
Now your trying to guess what is going on in someone's mind in the peculiar day to day. All little kid's at that, who as mentioned in earlier post cannot be translated exactly as what may seem .
i just wonder why people are having discussions with 5 yr old on religion
doesnt make much sense to me...kids shouldnt be concerned with adult things at that age.. they should be learning math and reading, playing with friends and living carefree as much as possible
kids are a sponge, what if someone decided to teach their 5 yr olds that non white people are evil and stuff like that. would that be ok to hardcode in them?
good point, and I can say Ive never heard of a family of believers who sat around drilling or even trying to make any kind of a big deal about it with a little kid. Unless something very bad happened and a general idea was made mention of. Agreed this is all about the adult.
OP: WSPHXPELON;"today, for the first time ever, my son started asking me questions about God."
Somehow the matter of a 5 year old kid asking about God and getting an honest answer is being turned into indoctrinating kids into atheism before they are old enough to ask serious questions about it.
Yet again the Bias of theist is twisting the facts to make them suit their agenda.
good point, and I can say Ive never heard of a family of believers who sat around drilling or even trying to make any kind of a big deal about it with a little kid. Unless something very bad happened and a general idea was made mention of. Agreed this is all about the adult.
Not around fundamentalists much? I had enough knowledge about Christianity and the Bible at 4 to make a profession of faith that Jesus was God and that I wanted Him to save me from my sins so I could go to heaven. Before I was 2, I was learning Bible stories and my parents were teaching me how to pronounce names like Hepzibah and Mephibosheth. By the time I was a mature 7, I was concerned that I did not understand theology well enough at 4 to really mean it when I prayed the Sinners Prayer, so I rededicated my life to Christ. I was memorizing entire chapters of the Bible at that point. We were in church 5 times a week, and had family bible study most evenings.
I realize that I grew up in a fundamentalist bubble, but most of my friends grew up similarly. When I compare the amount of indoctrination I received, with the simple "No" that we are discussing in this thread, the claims of abusing authority and indoctrination are just laughable!
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