another s/o...would you allow your child to go to the home of..

[MamaJules]

I am a Christian, as are most of the people we currently get together with. Once my boys start school, I'm sure that will change. I would definitely let my kids eat dinner with families of other beliefs.

[MamaNae]

Our grace is "Dear Lord, bless this food to our bodies and bless the hands that prepared it. In Jesus' name, Amen." LOL

Originally Posted by danner I'm challenged by this question. Religious people make me nervous. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I seem to remember that church folks are required by teachings to "spread the word" and such. If it was literally just grace, then fine. I don't know what devotionals are. I'd be concerned that eventually the cost of friendship with the family or child would easily lead to some kind of recruitment. I guess I'd be waiting for it to happen at some point. I doubt I could form a deep friendship with a family that displayed overt religious rituals because I have a fundamental problem with believing in the supernatural and it would put me off. But thanking the earth for the food we eat is pretty standard and not a problem. I'd be pretty surprised if it just stopped there though.

Our devotional is a book...it has a Bible passage we read aloud and then there is a little blurb that helps the kids apply that passage to their lives. For example last night's devotional was about arguing (tonight's is "Saying 'I'm sorry'")it says something about when someone starts to argue to get upset with us we sometimes don't feel like being kind or patient but that's what Jesus wants us to do...so next time you start to feel angry ask God to help you be kind....then there is a short, 3 verse passage we read. Tonight's passage is 5 verses long lol...our devo takes just a couple minutes and is usually part of our bedtime story routine.

[Fashionably Green Baby]

I will start with I am EXTREMELY un religious. I am probably one of the most jaded people you will ever meet. I have however read the bible front to back in it's entirety.

I will let my child go to ANYONE'S house that I trust will take proper care of them. I don't care your ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, social status etc etc etc. I ONLY care that our kids like each other and that you will take good care of them and nothing illegal or shady will be taking place while my child is in your home.

I would HOPE that you would not try and force your beliefs or practices on my child because I certainly would not tell your child how I really feel about god or religion as a whole. Honestly I don't even tell my OWN children how I feel about religion because I think they need to be free to explore ALL religions with an open mind before coming to a decision. My daughter has mostly christian friends that attend church and they talk about god and jesus openly at school when they are playing, therefore, I have to field questions about god and jesus somewhat regularly and at this point my daughter chooses to believe that they exist. I certainly am not going to say "They don't exist and religion is only good for keeping people in line and making them less afraid to die" <----which is my honest belief (flame away I don't care) because that would just be wrong and frankly mean. I think religion is such a personal issue and I just would not want it forced upon my children just like I don't want my jaded opinion forced on them. My daughter is happy to believe in god and jesus and that makes me happy for her.

[wolffie]

Of course. As long as it would be okay for my child to opt out and to not feel shamed by doing so. I don't mind if my child participates or opts out that is up to ds and dd.

[JennTheMomma]

Yes, and ds1 does have friends who are practicing Christians.

[jen_batten]

Well I would, but we are Christians also, so my vote probably doesn't count!

[AbbieJack]

yes i would

[el's mama]

Originally Posted by boy_and_baby_make_4 And I'm not saying that by owning veggie tales that makes me Christian....I'm just give planning we have God on our home and don't mind the toys, books, movies, etc.

Veggie Tales doesn't make you a Christian?!?! J/k!! We love Veggie Tales too. Some friends of ours are downright obsessed with it and their teenagers know every word to every one of them. I'm not exaggerating. It's hilarious.

Originally Posted by this_mel_rocks Of course as long as you didn't require my child to pray with you, if they wanted to participate that is fine though.

I think that's a balanced approach. We're a Christian family and pray before meals but never would I try to make someone join us if they didn't want to. We don't have a set prayer either... We simply are thanking God for the food. And whichever family member wants to pray gets to.

[carriek38]

Originally Posted by danner I'm challenged by this question. Religious people make me nervous. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I seem to remember that church folks are required by teachings to "spread the word" and such. If it was literally just grace, then fine. I don't know what devotionals are. I'd be concerned that eventually the cost of friendship with the family or child would easily lead to some kind of recruitment. I guess I'd be waiting for it to happen at some point. I doubt I could form a deep friendship with a family that displayed overt religious rituals because I have a fundamental problem with believing in the supernatural and it would put me off. But thanking the earth for the food we eat is pretty standard and not a problem. I'd be pretty surprised if it just stopped there though.

I agree with this. Part of it is the covert pressure to participate in grace, prayer, etc.; nobody wants to be the awkward one sitting there while everyone else is praying. I've been that girl many times & it's uncomfortable & unnerving...I wouldn't want DD to feel that way, nor would I want her to "fake it" just to avoid the awkwardness b/c that's just ingenuine.

Originally Posted by MamaNae Our grace is "Dear Lord, bless this food to our bodies and bless the hands that prepared it. In Jesus' name, Amen." LOL Our devotional is a book...it has a Bible passage we read aloud and then there is a little blurb that helps the kids apply that passage to their lives. For example last night's devotional was about arguing (tonight's is "Saying 'I'm sorry'")it says something about when someone starts to argue to get upset with us we sometimes don't feel like being kind or patient but that's what Jesus wants us to do...so next time you start to feel angry ask God to help you be kind....then there is a short, 3 verse passage we read. Tonight's passage is 5 verses long lol...our devo takes just a couple minutes and is usually part of our bedtime story routine.

Yeah, I wouldn't be okay w/ the devotionals, especially for a very young kid. We very much focus on personal responsibility & owning one's actions, both positive and negative...a "lesson" about the idea that kids should be good people (which we're teaching her anyway) b/c Jesus wants her to be that way (instead of just b/c good people do good things & we're raising her to be a good, kind person) & that if she's struggling with that, it's not her strength, it's God's that would guide her...it's really contrary to the way we raise her.

I would be fine with it with an older kid, probably over 8 or 10 yrs, but not a little one. Sorry. It has nothing to do with your character or anything like that; you sound like a really nice person & like you have a really nice family, but at a critical age where we're working w/ DD to develop her sense of self, her sense of responsibility, her own moral compass, DP & I look at things like heavy religion as undermining what & how we want to teach DD.

Don't get me wrong, we have friends with very deeply held faith, but it's been my experience that the people we know like that are the least likely to display their religious beliefs to outsiders b/c they believe their faith to be a personal experience. And likewise, anyone we're close enough with to even think about letting DD spend the night with (she's only 2) knows us well enough to know our views on religion & would give us a heads-up about their practices so that we could either just keep DD home or explain the practices.