One of my favorite things about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is their focus on families and the effort they go to as a group to create activities for them. Now, as someone who’s children are grown, I do sometimes feel a bit left out, although never actively excluded but I still think it’s a great thing.Pagans don’t do as much of this. I think part of why we avoid it is fear. There are still cases where children are removed from the home of pagan parents based solely on the religion of those parents. You see this more in the south, I think, than elsewhere but that it still happens at all is scary for parents, and understandably so.
Another reason is a common belief that religion is something you choose as an adult and that to “indoctrinate” a child into any particular path is a disservice to the child at best, and emotional abuse at worst. While many pagan parents will expose their children to Wicca, many allow the children to say, “No, I’m bored and not interested.” and go do other activities. This is of course something all parents must decide for themselves, but I don’t think it would be a bad idea to create some activities the family did as a group that were based around principles, rather than ritual details.
Lastly, especially in more recent years, paganism is growing more amongst the teen demographic than anywhere else. So many pagans don’t even have children let alone think of ways to involve them.
For those who do, adapting some of the family activities from the LDS Church might be a great idea. For example, LDS Living Magazine has this article about the Godhead. A parent might take that and explain to their kids how they believe that Deity is male and female, or has many aspects. How detailed an explanation you made it would depend on the age of your children. Of course, the first step in any adaptation of this nature will be to determine what you believe to be true. You can’t teach what you don’t have faith in.
From there, you can still use the activity and the refreshment recipes from the article. Kids could clip images from magazines of things the gods created, perhaps parents could even work in the idea of connectivity to all life into that. And what kid, of any age, doesn’t love chocolate? Making them together while you discuss what the gods are gives your kids a reason to want to stay and talk instead of run off and play the Gameboy in the living room.
If your family isn’t used to this kind of thing, the first two or three times you do it will probably be uncomfortable or feel forced but as you continue these kinds of activities, you’re all going to enjoy them more and even look forward to them and I think it’s a great way to teach kids the principles of your faith without indoctrinating them into the rituals and trappings.
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