Resources for Atheist Parents and Kids
Parenting starts out with figuring out the buckle configuration of an infant car seat without an engineering degree and knowing how to change the diaper of a floppy, mushy little creature who has absolutely zero interest in contributing to his/her own personal hygiene. It continues with learning how to fall asleep at your work computer without drooling, snoring or otherwise drawing the attention and ire of your peers or employers after feeding and rocking the floppy, mushy creature six times between 9pm and 6am.
The skill set required for parents of young babies is generally limited to meeting their survival needs. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a time of major angst, confusion and a million questions – most of which are leveled at Google sometime between midnight and 3am EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. But most newborns aren’t asking questions like “what happens to your eyeballs when you’re dead?” Most newborns don’t require an explanation for why people go to war, what drugs are or how to recover from a broken heart.
New parents quickly learn that they better become equipped with increasingly sophisticated tools for parenting and educating their offspring – assuming they want to try to avoid visiting them in prison someday. Making one’s own decisions is one thing, but making decisions for another human being makes the decisions suddenly feel heavier. How do we anchor our children in a moral foundation? How do we insure they won’t go on knifing rampages at 15? How do we help them choose friends who will bring out the best in them? How can we help them stand up for their convictions? How do we prevent our kids from becoming bullies? It’s dizzying. This is when we (wisely) turn to books and the internet (I would suggest however that you remain skeptical of a medical article diagnosing your three-month-old daughter with testicular cancer).
Thankfully, there are many fabulous resources available both for parents and for kids to navigate this world without religious guidance. If you have kids in your life, check out some of these resources!
Books
Conversions on the road to Damascus are for those who hear voices and fall prey to delusions and who would be better off seeking professional help. Much more valuable in the...
There is an old saying that invention is the mother of necessity and this book is a result of that idea. There would never be a need for such a book if the religions and...
This colorful and engaging book was designed to help foster dialogue between parents/adults and children as they begin to make sense of the wide range of religious beliefs/...
Religious understanding is as important today than any other time in history. In this highly acclaimed book, Mary Pope Osborne introduces readers to the six major religions of...
In the spirit of Schott’s Miscellany, The Magic of Reality, and The Dangerous Book for Boys comes Can a Bee Sting a Bee?—a smart, illuminating, essential, and utterly...
Great Without Religion was writen to be the first book which parents can read to their children to help them understand that there are many religions and many gods and in-fact...
Maybe Yes, Maybe No: A Guide for Young Skeptics by Dan Barker introduces the concept of critical thinking to children both young and old. It breaks down basic elements of the...
Maybe Right, Maybe Wrong: A Guide for Young Thinkers written by Dan Barker offers children advice on approaching the concept of morality and is strongly rooted in humanist...
In Parenting Beyond Belief, Dale McGowan helps parents celebrate the freedom that comes with raising their kids without formal indocrination and gives parents advice on how to...
Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief by Dale McGowan offers more than 40 million people in the United States solutions to the unique challenges...
Websites
The Big History Project (BHP) is a joint effort between teachers, scholars, scientists, and their supporters. It is a multi-disciplinary approach to knowledge for learners around the world. In addition to developing a full curriculum...
Kids Without God is a website created by the American Humanist Association (AHA) to provide parents, teenagers, and children digital resources for learning more about humanism and non-theism. The website provides accurate information...
