Housewife MacGyver: Raising Spiritually Self-Reliant Children with Jocelyn of We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ

The ever-awesome Jocelyn of We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ is here today to share with us the steps to becoming spiritually self-reliant and helping our children to become so as well. Jocelyn does the most awesome activities with her children, she posts the best holiday book lists for kids, and she can pull off Nanny McPhee with style. :)

It can be tough for parents today to tackle the issue of raising spiritually self-reliant children, when we don't feel spiritually sound ourselves.  But how important is it to teach our children to be spiritually self-reliant?  Consider this:

A child who is spiritually self-reliant will be able to more easily figure out how to deal with a bully, how to seek out healthy relationships, how to deal with the problems of life, and how to fix their own mistakes.  (Let's face it, we all make-em.)  So how important would it be in your mind for your children to have these skills?  Right...very.

Hopefully, if you feel unstable in this area of your parenting, you can follow these simple steps right along with your children and grow, as a family, to become just as capable of changing a tire or sewing on a stray button as you are charting a safe and happy path through life.

Her are six steps to raising spiritually self-reliant children...and becoming spiritually self-reliant yourself:

1.  ...know God's laws (know the laws of the land, laws of your family...basically, understand what is expected of you).

2.  ...know who you are (know why you are here, know your strengths/weaknesses...know your personal mission/goals).

3.  ...know how to communicate with God (know how to pray, know how to ask for help from others).

4.  ...know how to feel the Holy Ghost (know how you feel inside normally and what it means when you feel something different, know how to communicate those feelings to others).

5.  ...know how to make your own (good) choices (have experiences having responsibility over your own actions).

6. ...know how to fix your mistakes (starts with knowing how to clean up your own spills and continues to knowing how to apologize to others, how to make restitution, how to ask for help from the Atonement of Jesus Christ).

Raising spiritually self-reliant children or being spiritually self-reliant yourself doesn't mean that you have the answer to every question in parenting or in life that presents itself.  It does however mean that you have the confidence, ability, and know-how to seek out the correct answers and from the best sources.

In my religious perspective, we "talk of Christ and rejoice in Christ" so that our children will know where to look for answers to every dilemma they may face, so they can ultimately become spiritual entities unto themselves.  Whatever your spiritual-leanings may be, you can help raise spiritually self-reliant children by expressing the spiritual laws you live by, by helping them to discover the unique person that they are, by teaching them how to pray, by encouraging them to listen to their heart, by allowing them to make some decisions entirely on their own from an early age, and by giving them the tools necessary to fix their own mistakes.

This post is part of the Housewife MacGyver series on just Lu. Read more about Housewife MacGyver and see all the posts in the series here.