Hi Kate,
Thanks for your post. In you response to your question, the most current issue that is hitting my 7 year old relates to the purely social desire to go to church with friends. One of her closest friends has started attending a church with another girl from school and my daughter has felt saddened and left out by her inability to join in this mysterious social event. Now that the holidays are upon us, this mythical church experience includes holiday parties and joining the choir, etc. We are openly and honestly raising our daughters as atheists and speak candidly with them about our belief system. While my daughter seems to understand why we don’t believe in a god or attend church, there is an undeniable loneliness that comes from the lack of a true atheist community. At the age of 7, my daughter wants nothing more than to “belong.” Sometimes I feel that atheism is a burden on her at this age. As an adult I still struggle with coming out of the closet as an atheist and its hard to watch her endure similar social struggles when she is so young.
Mimi
AUTHOR: Mimi
AUTHOR EMAIL: mimimetzger1@gmail.com
AUTHOR URL:
SUBJECT: [Kate Cohen] Contact
IP: 216.17.138.97
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[1_Name] => Mimi
[2_Email] => mimimetzger1@gmail.com
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[4_Comment] => Hi Kate,
Thanks for your post. In you response to your question, the most current issue that is hitting my 7 year old relates to the purely social desire to go to church with friends. One of her closest friends has started attending a church with another girl from school and my daughter has felt saddened and left out by her inability to join in this mysterious social event. Now that the holidays are upon us, this mythical church experience includes holiday parties and joining the choir, etc. We are openly and honestly raising our daughters as atheists and speak candidly with them about our belief system. While my daughter seems to understand why we don’t believe in a god or attend church, there is an undeniable loneliness that comes from the lack of a true atheist community. At the age of 7, my daughter wants nothing more than to “belong.” Sometimes I feel that atheism is a burden on her at this age. As an adult I still struggle with coming out of the closet as an atheist and its hard to watch her endure similar social struggles when she is so young.
Mimi
)