Teaching Reason (to Children)

[Bad Writer]

We raised our two sans religion. No indoctrination of any kind. Churches understand, for a reason, that the time to force feed their shit into kids is when they are young and impressionable. On those rare occasions when one would ask a question I would merely point out that just because a lot of people believe something does not make it true and then use such examples as a flat-earth, disease being caused by demons or geocentrism.
There was surprisingly little of that maybe because we lived in NY where there were a lot of jews, catholics, protestants and the occasional muslim. Too many superstitions start to cancel each other out. After a while all the different god shit starts to look and smell like one big turd.

It's testimonials like this that make me wish I didn't live in Texas. Then again, Texas needs people like me

[Tonus]

Does anyone have any insight on how to lead a child to deciding on his or her own about how to keep an open mind and use reason in answering these hard questions? I see more articles/writings/blogs out there concerned with keeping children in the faith while maintaining an atmosphere of love, as opposed to keeping children out of faith.

I won't offer insight on that, but I think the only thing you want to make sure to do is have as open a channel of communication with them as possible. A child's mind will be affected by so many things that it's nearly impossible to know if you're pushing them too far in one direction or other. The more you convince them to turn to you when they have questions, the better you'll understand how their minds are forming. I don't think that has anything to do with reason or belief per se, but I think it's a mistake to try to shape (or try not to shape) their views.

Be yourself, be their dad, and do the best job you're capable of. The rest will sort itself out.

[Magnum]

Take care of your child's feelings by means of balancing feelings with wisdom but always talking about their and your feelings fishing all the time trying to really understand what they go through at school wherever. Children's feelings or emotional health is more important than their intellectual development. Show them how magic works, movies are made, TV Programs etc. at a very young age, tell them how not to become the fools of others by believing what they say or who they are. Take the fun out of superstitions. Expose the tooth fairy etc. Get them some pet snakes like small red tail boas keeping them close to nature. Always question everything yourself out load with what, why, when, where, who and how and leave your kids to discipline themselves if they are younger than 16. Suck it up!

Good luck!

[Bad Writer]

Take the fun out of superstitions. Expose the tooth fairy etc.

You have some good suggestions, but I was kinda "eh" on this one. I'll help my child understand that they're just superstitions, but I won't take the fun out of them.

For instance, I will help my daughter understand that at our house during Christmas, Santa is just pretend. Daddy is the tooth fairy because I'm the one putting the money under her pillow at night.

I think tradition can be fun, and I wouldn't want her to feel excluded from the rest of her society. I want to find ways to integrate her into society while still being able to express herself and rationalize the world better.

[thesummerqueen]

Telling her about those 'myths' is a great way to expose her to the rich cultural heritage we all inherit.

Rhythm and I both think folklore and myth get a bad rap in the atheist community. These are good stories! Children shouldn't be shielded from them - they should merely be instructed on the difference between them and reality.

Stories are important. We shouldn't take the fun out of them.

[Faith No More]

In all likelihood, shielding kids from myths makes them more vulnerable to them later on.

[genkaus]

Telling her about those 'myths' is a great way to expose her to the rich cultural heritage we all inherit.

Rhythm and I both think folklore and myth get a bad rap in the atheist community. These are good stories! Children shouldn't be shielded from them - they should merely be instructed on the difference between them and reality.

Stories are important. We shouldn't take the fun out of them.

Add me to the count. As a child, mythological stories were my among my favorite and some of them still are. And while, for a time, I did believe them to be true wholeheartedly, the eventual revelation did nothing to devalue them.

[thesummerqueen]

Add me to the count. As a child, mythological stories were my among my favorite and some of them still are. And while, for a time, I did believe them to be true wholeheartedly, the eventual revelation did nothing to devalue them.

Funny enough, 'mythology' didn't fool me, but folklore did for a time. I totally wanted to believe in aliens and bigfoot.

[Bad Writer]

Add me to the count. As a child, mythological stories were my among my favorite and some of them still are. And while, for a time, I did believe them to be true wholeheartedly, the eventual revelation did nothing to devalue them.

Funny enough, 'mythology' didn't fool me, but folklore did for a time. I totally wanted to believe in aliens and bigfoot.

I was in love with Greek Mythology, and I never thought once that it was anything more than a story.

When I figured out that Santa wasn't real around age 7, I asked my mom if the rest of the folklore characters were also fake. She admitted to all of them, except for when we got to whether or not Jesus was real.

[Clueless Morgan]

After a while all the different god shit starts to look and smell like one big turd.

HA!! I'm so filing this one away.

Funny enough, 'mythology' didn't fool me, but folklore did for a time. I totally wanted to believe in aliens and bigfoot.

I, too, totally wanted to believe in aliens and bigfoot type things. I think what kept me from really believing in them was simply being a curious child, obsessed with learning about animals and reading and doing the experiments in my science-for-kids books, etc. I don't have kids (and don't plan to) but if I did end up with them I'd let them explore their curiosity and not dictate to them one way or the other about what to believe regarding deities or religion. Frankly, it's like Minimalist says above, if you learn about all the religions and aren't indoctrinated into any of them as a child you'll likely end up recognizing them for the contradicting messes they are. The kid may not end up as an atheist but with any luck they'll be able to reason well and see through the bullshit that will inevitably be foisted upon them.