One aspect of my contemplative journey is this question of how do I pass on to my children a solid, first stage of life foundation without handing them some of the more rigid, black-and-white aspects of faith that can often go along with that stage? My children need structure, and simplicity. They can’t handle all the nuance and gray areas that I’m exploring. So how do I pursue my own authentic journey while also being present to them in the stage they are in. I can’t save them from their own journey of order, disorder, reorder. They will have to ask their own questions someday, wrestle through their own hard spaces, and hopefully emerge on the other side.
This page is my attempt to compile resources that I am still in the process of searching out and finding helpful in my parenting journey. I offer them here in case they are also helpful to you and will continue to add resources as I find them. If you have found other resources, I’d love to hear about them! Use my contact form.
Podcasts
- Episode on “Parenting” from Another Name for Everything with Richard Rohr. I found this a very helpful place to begin.
My Writing that Relates to Parenting
Websites to explore
- Kutsu Companions/Resource Page offers a list of books on spiritual life, spiritual direction, as well as spirituality for children and families.
- Wisdom Tales from around the world
- WCCM Meditation & Community has resources for teaching children to meditate.
- This new children’s Bible will release in September 2024. Watch the video about it here.
Reading Lists
For general ideas on wonderful wholesome stories for kids.
Parenting Books
The best thing you can offer your children is not prescriptive parenting but cultivating your own inner spiritual life and well-being. Beyond that, here are some parenting books I have gleaned from along the way.
- Good Inside by Dr. Becky Kennedy
- The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
- Rewilding Motherhood: Your Path to an Empowered Feminine Spirituality by Shannon K. Evans
- Bringing Up Bébé by Pamela Druckerman (a memoir on the difference between American and French parenting philosophies)
- Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff – explores how other cultures parent
- Brain-Body Parenting by Mona Delahooke
- The Whole Brain Child by Daniel Siegel, M.D.
- Parenting with Love and Logic by Jim Fay and Foster Cline, M.D.
Contemplative Picture Books
These are all stories that either offer something about mindfulness or else approach questions and stories of faith with a more nuanced perception. Less about sin or obedience and more focus on God’s infinite love and goodness to us ever and always.
This new illustrated children’s Bible is coming out this September 2024. Watch the kickstarter video explaining the vision for it here.
The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld highlights how offering presence rather than attempts to “fix” things can be the real healing factor.
You Are Special by Max Lucado shows how God’s love has nothing to do with how we perform or what we do. It’s part of who we are.
Just the Way Your Are by Max Lucado, also titled, Children of the King. This story emphasizes the gift of being fully present, that it’s our presence that the king wants, not our skills or gifts.
The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth is based on a story by Leo Tolstoy. In it a boy asks: When is the best time to do things? Who is the most important one? What is the right thing to do? A wise turtle guides him to understand the answer is always what is currently present before him.
little tree by Loren Long illustrates how letting go is a necessary part of growth.
What Do You Do With a Problem? by Kobi Yamada is the story of a persistent problem and the child who isn’t so sure what to make of it. The longer the problem is avoided, the bigger it seems to get. But when the child finally musters up the courage to face it, the problem turns out to be something quite different than it appeared.
Peaceful Piggy Meditation by Kerry Lee MacLean offers an introduction to the benefits of meditation in language accessible to children.
You Belong Here by M.H. Clark is a whimsical poetic book showing children that everything belongs somewhere and they do too.
Old Turtle and the Broken Truth by Douglas Wood is a beautiful nuanced story about the pain of divisiveness and the beauty of understanding our interconnectedness. Perhaps wisdom beyond what many adults understand, but in language simple enough for a child.
Drawing God by Karen Kiefer is explores ideas of how God can look like a lot of different things and there isn’t just one way to portray God.
I Wonder: Exploring God’s Grand Story is an illustrated Bible written by Glenys Nellist. It approaches the story from the perspective that we always have more to learn and poses “I wonder…” questions at the end of each story.
Mother God by Teresa Kim Pecinovsky explores the nature of God present in scriptural metaphors through mother language. This is a nurturing gem.
All Will Be Well: Learning to Trust God’s Love by Lacy Finn Borgo covers themes of grief and worry while incorporating the timeless wisdom of Julian of Norwhich: because of God’s great love for us, all will be well.
What is GOD Like? by Rachel Held Evans and Matthew Paul Turner present a book that explores the nature of God using tactile examples from scriptural metaphor and nature. God is like a shepherd, God is like a star, God is like a gardener, God is like the wind.
Because Nothing Looks Like God by Lawrence Kushner and Karen Kushner mixes sparks of curiosity and spiritual imagination, showing how God is with us every day in every way.
Maybe God is Like That Too by Jennifer Grant shows how evidence of God can be found in everyday sightings of the fruits of the spirit at work in others lives.
Baby Wren and the Great Gift by Sally Lloyd-Jones illustrates that each of us has a unique gift to offer the world. We aren’t made to be like others; we are made to do what only we can do.
More Picture Books
The following list are more of my favorites when it comes to children’s picture books. These aren’t as overtly “spiritual” but all good stories are spiritual by nature.
- Shoshi’s Shabbat by Caryn Yacowitz
- This Way, Charlie by Caron Levis (the same author illustrator pair have two others: Ida Always and Feathers Together)
- Grumpy Monkey by Suzanne Lang
- A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker (and the rest of the series)
- A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead
- A Home for Bird by Philip C. Stead
- Mr. Putter and Tabby series by Cynthia Rylant
- Home in the Woods by Eliza Wheeler
- The Grudge Keeper by Mara Rockliff
- Meet Miss Fancy by Irene Latham
- John Ronald’s Dragons: A Story of J.R.R. Tolkien by Caroline McAlister
- The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey Wood
- Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
- I Wonder by K.A. Holt
Danielle Klafter 