Childminding and faith

[tori4]

Not sure where to put this post so pls move if nessasary.

How do childminders with faith (wat ever that may be) share/show that throu there's day/job

We are being told to give children lots of multicultural resources and experiences

However I struggle or sometimes feel uncomfortable to share my own faith with some of my families.

I'm not sure if this is because
1) of my job and being open n welcoming to everyone
2) British political correctness ( dnot talk religion or politics etc)
3) my own faith journey

I'm sure this is a possible stumble in any job but would love to know how CM share their faith through their job.

Hope this all makes sense xT

[yummyripples]

I don't think it's a case of sharing your faith, more of teaching them little snippets about your faith and also other faiths or even just showing the children your day to day life. B
My way of being multi cultural is being out in the community and meeting people of all religions

[mrs owl]

Not sure where to put this post so pls move if nessasary.

How do childminders with faith (wat ever that may be) share/show that throu there's day/job

We are being told to give children lots of multicultural resources and experiences

However I struggle or sometimes feel uncomfortable to share my own faith with some of my families.

I'm not sure if this is because
1) of my job and being open n welcoming to everyone
2) British political correctness ( dnot talk religion or politics etc)
3) my own faith journey

I'm sure this is a possible stumble in any job but would love to know how CM share their faith through their job.

Hope this all makes sense xT

I think it is important we show our faith not by what we say but by what we do and how we relate to the world. I am a Christian and that is stated in my welcome pack I'm also a C of E lay minister so it's a bit hard to hide my faith as we live in a small town. To be honest i have found parents quite like that I am a Christian and I have a Christian ethos. We do the usual Christmas and Easter activities but always include Jesus in them. The children are with me for christingle and other Christian celebrations. We also find out about other faiths and have fun doing that too.

I do not have a portable pulpit on the corner of the room! Lol! And the children don't say grace before meals. But I make it clear before the children start that I am a Christian and Jesus is ever present in my life. We do not live on a multi cultural area so I have never looked after children who's parents are a different faith or none believers but if I did I would respect their faith and do my best to accommodate them.

Don't be afraid of sharing your faith, have courage...as I said its more about what you do than what you say! Hope that helps! X

[mrs owl]

I think it is important we show our faith not by what we say but by what we do and how we relate to the world. I am a Christian and that is stated in my welcome pack I'm also a C of E lay minister so it's a bit hard to hide my faith as we live in a small town. To be honest i have found parents quite like that I am a Christian and I have a Christian ethos. We do the usual Christmas and Easter activities but always include Jesus in them. The children are with me for christingle and other Christian celebrations. We also find out about other faiths and have fun doing that too.

I do not have a portable pulpit on the corner of the room! Lol! And the children don't say grace before meals. But I make it clear before the children start that I am a Christian and Jesus is ever present in my life. We do not live on a multi cultural area so I have never looked after children who's parents are a different faith or none believers but if I did I would respect their faith and do my best to accommodate them.

Don't be afraid of sharing your faith, have courage...as I said its more about what you do than what you say! Hope that helps! X

Sorry I should have written I have never looked after children who are a different faith only children's parents who are none believers

[mrs owl]

I think it is important we show our faith not by what we say but by what we do and how we relate to the world. I am a Christian and that is stated in my welcome pack I'm also a C of E lay minister so it's a bit hard to hide my faith as we live in a small town. To be honest i have found parents quite like that I am a Christian and I have a Christian ethos. We do the usual Christmas and Easter activities but always include Jesus in them. The children are with me for christingle and other Christian celebrations. We also find out about other faiths and have fun doing that too.

I do not have a portable pulpit on the corner of the room! Lol! And the children don't say grace before meals. But I make it clear before the children start that I am a Christian and Jesus is ever present in my life. We do not live on a multi cultural area so I have never looked after children who's parents are a different faith or none believers but if I did I would respect their faith and do my best to accommodate them.

Don't be afraid of sharing your faith, have courage...as I said its more about what you do than what you say! Hope that helps! X

Sorry I should have written I have never looked after children who's parents are a different faith but I have cared for children whose parents are none believers

[loocyloo]

I'm a Christian and like Mrs Owl have only cared for children of my Faith or no faith. One current family came to me because I was a Christian, and I have had others in the past for the same reason.
We look at and find out about all cultures/ festivals but I live in an area with very few opportunities to experience these other cultures.
I don't force Christianity on anyone but we do read Bible stories ( as they are in the book box ) and I don't not talk about it if that makes sense. We sometimes pop into Church for odds and ends and often walk through the graveyard on our walks.
The people that we meet through the Church enrich the children's lives with their friendship and knowledge. ( that is not to say that people with no or other faiths don't, but these friend's do add a special something to our lives )

[jackie 7]

The wonderful thing about childmindrrs is that we are all different. You can celebrate multi cultural ism by having small world people of different colours and who do differing jobs. Celebrate everything you can. Though I am not sure how I can celebrate Chinese bed year with 2 year olds most of whom don't even sit still for a story

[AliceK]

The wonderful thing about childmindrrs is that we are all different. You can celebrate multi cultural ism by having small world people of different colours and who do differing jobs. Celebrate everything you can. Though I am not sure how I can celebrate Chinese bed year with 2 year olds most of whom don't even sit still for a story

Yes I am wondering the same thing. In the past we have made Chinese lanterns and done Chinese writing etc and we always eat Chinese food with chopsticks too but I have always had some older children but this year it will be 1 and 2 yr olds so not sure whether to bother actually although we will have some Chinese food as I LOVE it

[FloraDora]

If you start at an early age, our multicultural society will be part of their life. They may not really understand now, but whats the harm?

[sing-low]

Interesting thread, thank you. I'm a Christian and my way of showing my faith is how I live. With regards to Chinese New Year, I think even with little ones, you start as you mean to go on and do activities with them anyway, even if they won't understand. We wouldn't not give babies Christmas presents, would we?

I'm doing Chinese New Year very simply with my one year olds. We're going to read two short books about pandas (That's Not My Panda - touchy feebly one, and one with a puppet) and have spring rolls for snack.

[tori4]

Thank you for the replies

Feeling more positive now I do very similar things.

I do find it hard to share multicultural events with very little ones but always share a glimpse of other cultures as much as poss.

I have a mix of parents some families from our local church and others just choose me via word of mouth and my craziness ;-)

I d'not plan to over do it but I would like to be more confident to share my faith in all parts of my life.

Thank you ladies u have given me a kick in the right direction ;-)

[watford wizz]

I am open with my faith right from day one but not in a confrontational, turn every child into...kind of way. I have cared for children from all walks of life and did ask a family whose faith was different to mine why they chose me rather than their own or some one with no faith and they said because I had a faith I would understand the importance of their own faith.

[smurfette]

This is a really great thread thanks for wondering aloud! I have wondered about this too, if parents will mind! Mine mostly seem to have no faith, but I have taken Los to church services for my own kids school and no one has minded, and also to ladies morning where we meet from church and Los play., I also have a cd of baby praise in the car and wondered how parents would feel about it if kids come home singing them or talking about bible studies, as you say it's a big part of my life but don't want parents to feel I am ramming it down anyone's throat! I also sing in a gospel choir and talk about that so imagine they put two and two together!

[primula]

[/B]


Yes I am wondering the same thing. In the past we have made Chinese lanterns and done Chinese writing etc and we always eat Chinese food with chopsticks too but I have always had some older children but this year it will be 1 and 2 yr olds so not sure whether to bother actually although we will have some Chinese food as I LOVE it

Same age group too! we will still be making lanterns and noodles! lots of red and gold paint, glitter! Wish I had thought of getting some Chinese music!

[AdeleMarie88]

I don't practice any religion as such, but I have my beliefs and I suppose you would call it faith, I just talk to the children about things. We are very fortunate where we live to be surrounded by an abundance of cultures and beliefs, so we visit a lot of temples and churches, and we celebrate most religious festivals with our neighbours.

I think regardless of whether you have religion or not, it's important to talk about and share ideas with children. It's our job to enrich their lives x

[bunyip]

I don't feel entirely qualified to speak on this (not that that's ever stopped me .)

Whilst it's an interesting subject, isn't this a question to put to one's respective deity and see what she has to say on the matter, or don't religions have instructions on how to live/evangelise/proselytise as part of their core functions?

I'm interested that the OP raised the issue of "British political correctness". It seems everyone feels they come up against this whether adhering to an institutionalised religion or not. I'm one of those insultingly referred to as "none believer" (non-Chrisitian/non-Muslim/non-entity/non-person: take your pick , and stick your favoured label on me.) I and many of my fellow non-whatevers (we generally prefer a positive title, such as "people") feel we're the ones being bombarded with opposing PC requirements because our value systems (yes, it is possible not to be completely amoral without the support of a top-ten deity) constantly have to give way to those with "deeply held" irrational beliefs.

OK - I'm being a bit flippant, and I daresay someone will take offence where none is being offered (isn't that stealing?) or feel the need to stand up for their particular version of goD (or gods) - but I'm genuinely intrigued as to why everybody on the faith-"non"faith continuum feels they (we/I) feels they're being picked on all the time in the name of "political correctness". Ideas anyone?

As an aside, I don't do Chinese New Year, although the lo's do it at preschool. I'm not at all comfortable with a few thousand years of civilisation, high culture and a huge nation spanning many languages and ways of life being reduced to the point where the lo's see Chinese people as merely consumers of vast amounts of fried food and red paper tat. But far be it from me to undermine the only thing that keeps the craft-catalogue companies solvent between Christmas and Valentine's Day.

[Jiorjiina]

Interesting question.

I haven't really done much with sharing my faith with mindees (Quaker), but we are just starting to do more multi cultural festivals and other things. Starting with Chinese New Year. I was actually born in Hong Kong, and literally just the other day I found out that one of my mindees dad's was born the year after me in the same hospital!

Currently I have a big dragon decoration stuck to my ceiling, and a bunch of red paper lanterns. I also have a poster from Nursery world up, and one for the Year of the Horse little display on a wall with the zodiac animals for each year we were born, with our photos next to them. We've done some colouring, and eaten Chinese food (and tried using chopsticks), and read some books on Chinese New Year (lift the flap, etc). I even taught them how to say 'Happy New Year!' in Chinese ('Kung hey fat choi!', if anyone is interested) Mindees are only two, and this seems to be about the right level for them.

We've also done things like looking at books about playtime in other countries, what other children eat, etc.

[mrs owl]

I don't feel entirely qualified to speak on this (not that that's ever stopped me .)

Whilst it's an interesting subject, isn't this a question to put to one's respective deity and see what she has to say on the matter, or don't religions have instructions on how to live/evangelise/proselytise as part of their core functions?

I'm interested that the OP raised the issue of "British political correctness". It seems everyone feels they come up against this whether adhering to an institutionalised religion or not. I'm one of those insultingly referred to as "none believer" (non-Chrisitian/non-Muslim/non-entity/non-person: take your pick , and stick your favoured label on me.) I and many of my fellow non-whatevers (we generally prefer a positive title, such as "people") feel we're the ones being bombarded with opposing PC requirements because our value systems (yes, it is possible not to be completely amoral without the support of a top-ten deity) constantly have to give way to those with "deeply held" irrational beliefs.

OK - I'm being a bit flippant, and I daresay someone will take offence where none is being offered (isn't that stealing?) or feel the need to stand up for their particular version of goD (or gods) - but I'm genuinely intrigued as to why everybody on the faith-"non"faith continuum feels they (we/I) feels they're being picked on all the time in the name of "political correctness". Ideas anyone?

As an aside, I don't do Chinese New Year, although the lo's do it at preschool. I'm not at all comfortable with a few thousand years of civilisation, high culture and a huge nation spanning many languages and ways of life being reduced to the point where the lo's see Chinese people as merely consumers of vast amounts of fried food and red paper tat. But far be it from me to undermine the only thing that keeps the craft-catalogue companies solvent between Christmas and Valentine's Day.

Sorry bunyip didn't mean to insult you by calling you a 'none believer'

[bunyip]

Sorry bunyip didn't mean to insult you by calling you a 'none believer'

No worries. I didn't take it as personal from you. All religions say it as a matter of course.

I should know: been there, done that, bought (or, in my case, sold) the T-shirt.

[smurfette]

This is a really great thread thanks for wondering aloud! I have wondered about this too, if parents will mind! Mine mostly seem to have no faith, but I have taken Los to church services for my own kids school and no one has minded, and also to ladies morning where we meet from church and Los play., I also have a cd of baby praise in the car and wondered how parents would feel about it if kids come home singing them or talking about bible studies, as you say it's a big part of my life but don't want parents to feel I am ramming it down anyone's throat! I also sing in a gospel choir and talk about that so imagine they put two and two together!

Lol that should have said little ones come
Home talking about bible stories, not bible studies.. That might be a bit Beyond them at 2 years of age lol!