Raising my kids Catholic

Disclaimer: this post is not intended to offend any parent who chooses a different faith or no faith at all. It is based on personal opinions and our chosen lifestyle

"The best thing our family ever did was decide early in our kids' lives to go back to Ed and my Catholic roots. God bless our Catholic faith"- Tara Rittersdorf (mom of 4 girls)- Belding, MI

I love reading quotes like that one from my friend Tara! I love to know that so many parents are resorting to faith based lifestyles and that is why I'm writing this post!

Many parents struggle when scrambling to make the decision of how to raise their children, what to teach them, what not to teach them; many ask themselves, should we teach them "faith"?  should we tell them to believe in God?. It is not uncommon for non-religious parents to seek out some sort of religious organization after they have children, precisely because they struggle with the lack of doctrine when teaching little kids.  I know, I know, this doesn't happen to every parent, but believe me..it happens to many!

We all want to be the best we can be and we want to make sure our children grow up to be good, well adjusted adults. 

Some of us have our own religious beliefs and some just call themselves "spiritual" or plain "atheists"; the truth is, we all believe in SOMETHING!

And it is SO important for kids to believe in SOMETHING too.  I have been a CCD teacher (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) for almost 18 years and I have seen so many children get excited about God; I have seen them learn about the Bible and ask questions about Catholicism and any particular religious doctrine.  It is fascinating to see how these kids crave knowledge and especially how they long to have faith in something. 

We have chosen to raise our kids Catholic; we are lucky to be able to send them to a wonderful Catholic school and we are also lucky to witness the effect that faith has on them.  It is such a complex concept yet so basic for kids to grasp (believe it or not).  It's so rewarding to know that the lifestyle we have chosen for our kids is well taken by them. 

So, as a fellow mom, I'm not here to tell you what you should or should not teach your kids; I'm simply stating that teaching your children about FAITH and helping them believe in some superior power will have such amazing impact on their lives.

Today, I encourage all parents to help their kids BELIEVE, and HOPE, and HELP, and LOVE...so that we can all make this world a much better place! 

Happy praying! ;)