Real Kids, Real Faith: Practices for Nurturing Children's Spiritual Lives - Hardcover

by Karen Marie Yust (Author), Eugene C. Roehlkepartain (Foreword by)

In a culture that has lost touch with love, compassion, and meaning, how can parents be intentional about building a spiritual foundation for their children's development? In looking to their own upbringing for guidance, parents often feel even more at a loss--they don't want to make the same mistakes their parents did, so they either become too strict, or they take a completely hands-off approach. A pastor, a teacher, and a mother, Karen Marie Yust offers a refreshing array of resources and provisions to guide and sustain parents and children on thier mutual journey. Drawn from a three-year study of children's spirituality, as well as the best in theological tradition and literature, Real Kids, Real Faith provides insight and a variety of helpful tips for nurturing children's spiritual and religious formation. Yust challenges the prevailing notion that children are unable to grasp religious concepts and encourages parents to recognize children as capable of authentic faith.

Front Jacket

In a culture that has lost touch with love, compassion, and meaning, how can parents be intentional about building a spiritual foundation for their children's development? In looking to their own upbringing for guidance, parents often feel even more at a loss. They don't want to make the same mistakes their parents did, so they either become too strict, or they take a completely hands-off approach.

A pastor, teacher, and mother, Karen Marie Yust offers a refreshing array of resources and provisions to guide and sustain parents and children on their mutual journey. Drawn from a three-year study of children's spirituality as well as the best in theological tradition and literature, Real Kids, Real Faith provides insight and a variety of helpful tips for nurturing children's spiritual and religious formation. Yust challenges the prevailing notion that children are unable to grasp religious concepts and encourages parents to recognize children as capable of genuine faith.

In addition to its wealth of practical advice on how to engage children in authentic faith practice, Real Kids, Real Faith helps parents identify their own important role in a child's deepening life of faith. This book forges a path for a child's spiritual life and invites parents to share the journey.

Back Jacket

Foster a Life-Sustaining Faith in Your Child

"With gentle wisdom grounded in solid theology and child development theory, Karen Marie Yust provides parents practical ways to help their kids grow in faith. I highly recommend it."
-Michele Borba, author, Building Moral Intelligence, and No More Misbehavin'

"Real Kids, Real Faith is thoughtful and practical, affirming and challenging, steeped in traditions and grounded in contemporary life. By avoiding pat answers on the one hand and abstract philosophy on the other, Karen Marie Yust offers the inspiration and tools needed to nurture life-shaping faithfulness in children."
-From the Foreword by Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, director, Family and Congregation Initiatives, Search Institute

"This is the most balanced and useful guide to the spiritual growth of children that I know. Written by a wise professor and loving mother, this book will enrich the spiritual lives of children as it deepens the spiritual lives of parents."
-Don Browning, University of Chicago and author, Marriage and Modernization

"Parents interested in how children incorporate a spiritual worldview will find this book illuminating. Drawing on child psychology, anthropological and theological perspectives on acculturation, and development of a spiritual system, Karen Marie Yust offers an explicit understanding of how children can be encouraged to incorporate spirituality into their lives. Personal anecdotes help to illustrate her insights."
-Cyndie White, comanager, Harvard University Office of Work/Life and Family Resources

Author Biography

Karen Marie Yust teaches Christian education and spiritual formation at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. She is the mother of three children and an ordained minister with dual standing in the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She served eleven years as a parish pastor and conducts workshops on children and spirituality around the world.