Spirituality, self-control, and cultural contexts in early childhood development

SPIRITUALITY IN YOUNG CHILDREN'S TEMPERAMENT AND SELF-CONTROL: THE CULTURAL INFLUENCE

The objective of this study is to address the cultural contexts relating to spirituality in young children's temperament and self-control.

Child-Well Being Outcomes

Jesus grew in wisdom

Jesus grew in stature

Jesus grew in grace

Einoth's work entitled "Building Strong Foundations World Vision's Focus on Early Childhood Development and Child Well-being" published by World Vision 2010 reports that World Visions biblical bases for the definition of Child Well-Being Outcomes is found in the Bible in the Book of Luke, Chapter 2, Verse 52 which states "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor (grace) with God and with people'. (2010, p. ix) Einoth states that in the tradition of the Jewish people that the body "is the object of special care because it is God's creation and special gift of grace. Growing in stature implies growing caring for the body and for healthful nutrition, for recreation and play and healthy conditions at home." (Einoth, 2010, p. ix) In the Hebrew culture the statement of 'He grew in Wisdom" held great meani8ng and in terms of more than just academic or intellectual knowledge and meant "knowing more, living better, with virtues and character formation and the ability to make good choices for life." (Einoth, 2010, p. ix) The statement of "He grew in Grace with God and with the community" meant that Jesus received guidance from his parents in their modeling of a "coherent life, by instructing him of knowledge of scripture and in being faithful to their faith traditions." (Einoth, 2010, p. x) The result is that Jesus had a relationship with God and the community and was on the receiving end of "affection, administration, solidarity, love, sympathy and the expressions of grace form the community that is so necessary for all human development." ( p. ix) The Well-Being indicators of World Vision for children include those of: (1) enjoy good health; (2) educated for life; (3) love God and neighbors; and (4) care for, protected and participating. (Einoth, 2010, p. x) Rather than being tools that are inflexible the CWBOs are reported to be in the nature of a "dialogical tool to facilitate ongoing discussions between different stakeholders that are involved in development programming processes (including the children themselves, families, communities, churches, local governments and other organizations)." (Einoth, 2010, p. x)

II. Cultural Identity on Child Development

Nature and spirituality linked

Life linked with nature

Children are influenced by television

Holladay (2007) reports that George Barna, known for conducting surveys and specifically related is that in Barna's studies on parenting and child development the following facts were revealed: "By the time an American child is 23 years of age, as was the killer in Virginia, he has seen countless murders among the more than 30,000 violent acts to which he is exposed through television, movies, and video games." (p.1) Holladay also relates "By age 23, the average American will have viewed thousands of hours of pornographic images, which diminish the dignity and the value of human life." (p.1) As well, Barna is reported by Holladay to have stated the following fact: "After nearly a quarter of a century, the typical American will have listened to hundreds of hours of music (I'll say thousands of hours of music) that fosters anger, hatred, disrespect for authority, selfishness, and radical independence. The younger generation is hooked on music." (2007, p.1) There is no doubt that culture has a great impact on the child's spiritual development, or alternatively, the lack of spiritual development of in the child.