In Buddhist news
June 2, 2008 by K.
Statistical data suggests that American Buddhists aren’t doing a very effective job of passing the dharma on to their children (see the Pew Foundation for details). This Roanoke mother decided to do something.
Buddha
for kids: Dharmapala B |
| Katie Clifton-Wright was looking for a spiritual center for her family when she began meditating at Roanoke’s Dharmapala Buddhist Center last summer.
The Roanoke mother enjoyed the peace that the practice gave her and wanted to share it with her two children, Harrison, 5, and Tallulah, 18 months. But there were no local programs for kids.
Buddhist children’s programs aren’t as easy to find as Sunday school for Christian children, Koranic school for Muslim kids or Hebrew school for Jewish children.
So Clifton-Wright, a teacher at Community School, decided to start one herself. |
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Posted in Buddhist News | 1 Comment
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I think it’s great that the Roanoke mom cares so deeply about teaching the children on their level about important matters of a spiritual nature. If it ever becomes about anything more than this, I believe something is lost. My husband and I became involved in a Christian children’s ministry using puppets, clowning, glow-in-the-dark miming, etc., when it was big in the late 80s. We suffered from “entertainment” burn-out, and the kids suffered from boredom, needing more and more from Sunday School as time progessed. Any teaching tool that speaks to the senses is great, but above all, let the lesson be spiritually meaningful for the children individually and relationally, and they will never, ever forget it. It sounds like Katie is on the right track.