Should you wait to talk to a child about atheism?

[Jenny A]

It's an individual thing.

At whatever age the kid figures out there is no Santa Claus he/she should be told "guess what else?"

Actually, kids often ask the next few questions all on their own: Easter Bunny? Jesus?

[Minimalist]

It's an individual thing.

At whatever age the kid figures out there is no Santa Claus he/she should be told "guess what else?"

Actually, kids often ask the next few questions all on their own: Easter Bunny? Jesus?

Funny, really. It's all the same shit.

[Esquilax]

Isn't it funny that the atheist parents here, the ones belonging to the group that most fundie religious groups crow about indoctrinating children with atheistic public schools that took god out of them, are the ones who most easily jump to "answer their questions but let them make up their own minds," while the religious are mostly into getting them while they're young?

Oh, and by "funny," I mean "depressing and infuriating."

[Minimalist]

while the religious are mostly into getting them while they're young?

Sinister sounding words when catholic priests are factored in.

[Alex K]

We plan to have kids, and I see it just as others have pointed out already. Critical thinking is the highest good here, not atheism - how mind numbing would that be, to put atheism as a starting point. If my daughters or sons should end up deciding that they want to be theists or whatever, I certainly won't love them any less or stop inviting them to christmas dinner . My plan and ideal goal is that they'll be capable to have heated discussions with their parents on the subject at as early an age as possible. What I certainly won't do is hold back about my own views, but I plan to make a point of it to present it as my view, not absolute truth. I'd never say "There is no God, period".

[RobbyPants]

Do you think we should wait until a child is in their teens to discuss the issue?

I'm kind of forced into it earlier than I otherwise might bring it up because my wife is Christian and is raising our daughters to be nominally Christian. So, the fact that I don't believe does come up on occasion.

Right now, I'm watching my six year old try to wrap her head around my lack of belief while parroting some very simple apologetics. So, she'll ask me "Why don't you believe in things you can't see?" and after I answer her, she'll follow that up with "You can't see God, but you can feel him in your heart. Do you believe now?"

It's something that obviously needs to be discussed in some way or another.

[GrandizerII]

Isn't it funny that the atheist parents here, the ones belonging to the group that most fundie religious groups crow about indoctrinating children with atheistic public schools that took god out of them, are the ones who most easily jump to "answer their questions but let them make up their own minds," while the religious are mostly into getting them while they're young?

Oh, and by "funny," I mean "depressing and infuriating."

Yeah, something like:

"Listen to what I say, or Jesus and Virgin Mary will choke you"

[Tonus]

I'm trying to imagine a parent discussing the issue of atheism with a child and I keep seeing a grownup and his kid just sitting there for a short time, saying nothing. Finally they both nod, the parent says "glad we had this chat" and they both go about their day.

[Crossless2.0]

When it came to my son, who has a mild case of Asperger's, I decided that he was too literal-minded (especially as a young child) to be left to the devices of some of my fundie in-laws. His mother and I spoke to him early and often about what other people believed -- not just Christians but the basics of some of the other major faiths, at least to the extent that we could speak of these movements given our limited exposure to them. We tried to present these views without caricaturing them, and I often made my son sit down and listen as I read to him from a children's edition of the Bible -- not among his fondest memories, he informs me. I took him to a few church services in different Christian congregations (Catholic, Lutheran, Evangelical) so he could see what he was 'missing' by our not belonging to a church. We were also upfront about our own skepticism of these faiths and provided our reasons as occasion permitted. More importantly, we tried to provide him the tools (logic, understanding the nature of good evidence, etc.) to think about these things for himself. Even as a boy, he had a strong interest in science (biology especially) and history, so as time went on it became more about steering him toward good sources. He's a demon for self-motivated research, so the rest kind of took care of itself. He was a religious skeptic at a young age and remains so today (2nd year college student).

[Mister Agenda]

My Satanist friends with three children have an approach that I greatly admire in answering their children's questions. They say 'That's a very interesting question. What is a way that you could find out?'