Rationale Child Spiritual Development

SPIRITUALITY IN YOUNG CHILDREN'S TERPERAMENT AND SELF-CONTROL

RATUIONALE

Historically, school systems not only permitted but encouraged religious instruction and children were enabled to integrate their spiritual views in the processing of the feelings about the events of the world ultimately allowing them to have well developed moral and philosophical bases for themselves and their interactions with the world around them. The result is that educators were enabled in assisting students in their development of themselves in a more fully rounded manner and to create a strong value system to direct their lives. This study examines these issues through a qualitative lens and attempts to understand the role of religion through a holistic model educators use in providing support for the continued growth and learning of students. Specifically this work intends to examine the influence of the church congregation on the development of young people and specifically on their spiritual development through interaction and engagement with the congregation as a whole and in the area of the young person's life and interaction with their family and the broader community as a whole as the congregation interacts in the roles of public leadership and service and any actions that the church congregation takes that impacts the life of children and adolescents in the society. (Roehlkeparta, 2006, paraphrased) The spiritual capacities of children have been previously underestimated. There are capacities and experiences of the child that have a powerful impact on the child's spiritual development however, theories relating to cognition erroneously discount the ability of the child to experience growth that is meaningful or their ability to experience a spiritual life that is of an genuine nature. Jent (nd) examines this issue from the view of conversion and states that the child's understanding and experience of conversion is dependent upon the child's "ability….age…capacity to grasp thoughts and make decisions…"(p. 62) While Jett holds that a child would only very rarely be "ready for a conversion experience in early childhood (birth to age five)" he states that in some countries and those more advanced that children mature more rapidly and as such their response to the external environment is differentiated most particularly by the various cultures in which children are reared. That specifically is the area of exploration in this study and the questions examined relate to the impact of the church congregation on the child's spiritual development and whether that impact results in a higher level of spiritual development for the child. In other words, it would appear to be reasonable to believe that the church congregation has the potential to impact the child's development of spirituality in a manner that would 'culturally' affect the child rendering the child's in their development of a higher level of spiritual understanding about themselves and the world around them. This work examines how that impact and effect in the life of the child develops their ability to make choices that are more spiritually informed and that are based in spiritual principles and ultimately resulting in a value system that is guided by ethics,. Morality and spiritual-based principles and beliefs. Hitler is known to have stated that if someone gave a child to him until the age of six that the child would be his forever. This speaks to the importance of the early years influences on the life of the child in terms of their life trajectory and the principles and beliefs that once impressed upon child serves to guide them throughout their life's course. This also highlights the importance and critical role that the church congregation plays in influencing not only the spiritual development of the child but the entire life course of the child.