RPOTC Chapter One: God and the Child

Happy Ash Wednesday!  For those of you reading The Religious Potential of the Child along with me this Lent, here are some discussion questions for Chapter One.  If you are not yet, read about why you should be and join us!  It's only day one of Lent!  I will share some responses from the real-life group after we meet next Wednesday, or at least my own.  We would love to hear your questions and insights, which I will bring to the group.  My grand vision is to have the online discussion and the real life one mutually enriching each other.  So let's start talking!


Chapter One:  God and the Child

“…because you have revealed these things to mere children.”  -Matthew 11:25

Definitions:

Normalize- In Montessori jargon, normalization is when the children freely choose their work, concentrate, and are working as members of a respectful, peaceful community.  They are developing as they ought.

Exigence-urgent need intrinsic to the child

Do you find any of the anecdotes in this chapter surprising or incredible?  Why?

Have you yourself had a joyful encounter with God in childhood, or witnessed anything like this in your children?

Have you ever been surprised by some heavenly knowledge your children had, knowing you had not taught it to them?

Do you sometimes fall into the trap of trying to force a “proper” religious response out of your children while they are still very young, probably for the sake of our own egos?

How have we thought about our duty to raise our children up for Heaven in the past?  Has this chapter changed any of those thoughts? 

Do you think early childhood could be the “sensitive period” for faith? If the religious nature of the child were repressed or ignored now, would it be harder to come to faith later in life?