How to Teach Your Children About Buddhism

Teaching children about religion and spirituality can be aovercomplicated.
difficult task for many reasons. There are plenty ofThe first route I tried was the local bookstore, which
Christian children's books on the market, but findingdidn't pan out. I went home and started using Google to
anything else is very difficult. Also, many subjects arefind Buddhist children's books, but really didn't find
often difficult or confusing for children to understand. Ianything specifically tailored for children. Eventually, I
admit it, I am no teacher and I faced this issue when Iused Amazon and after some hard searching found
wanted to share my Zen Buddhist beliefs with myexactly what I needed.
children in a manner that opened their minds ratherThere are some fantastic books, if you search hard
than closed them. In the end, I was able to find someenough, that teach kids about Buddhist topics such as
fantastic resources that not only helped my childrenmeditation, compassion, love, respect, and even death
understand things like birth and death, but also taughtrebirth. I had no idea that there were such simple ways
them great lessons on compassion, empathy, andto share these invaluable lessons with children. I wasn't
spirituality.raised as a Buddhist, so everything I learned about it
The beginning of my problem originated when mywas as an adult. I had no idea how to approach a child.
children started asking me tough questions about life,These books turned out to be a lifesaver.
death, and suffering. I had answers prepared, butI realized at that point that there are probably
honestly when I went to use them they just didn'tthousands of parents out there facing a similar
sound right. There were so many lessons and ideasproblem and I wondered if there would be any way to
that I'd been taught and wanted to share with mycompile a list online for parents to find and use. Sure
children, but I just couldn't seem to find the right way toenough, it is possible and if it weren't for me facing this
do it. Then I realized that maybe I could find someproblem I never would have found the solution. I hope
Buddhist children's books that might slowly introduceyou find what you are looking for as well.
these thoughts to them without getting