Dang, you already feel bad so I’m not going to try to make you feel worse. We all make parenting mistakes. I would like to say I think the reason some people believe in stuff is because they need to. My kid seems to believe in ghosts. He had like a legitimate mental breakdown when he was 5 and really realized that humans die and it’s inevitable (not only those who are sick or in an accident). He still has obsessive thoughts and existential anxiety. From the beginning I told him people believe different things. Personally, I don’t have any beliefs about life or death, but great grandma believes in heaven, aunty believes in ghosts, people believe you come back as babies, etc. I was very clear that we have no proof of any of this and that anyone who ever says their answer is the one and only true answer, is full of it. The truth is we only know what we can prove.
He’s a good critical thinker for his age. I think he knows ghosts aren’t real, but it helps him. It would honestly be cruel to take it away. He knows some religions teach bigotry and that some religions are cults and many others are cult-like (he’s quite interested in cults haha). There’s a difference between beliefs and religions. Kids are smarter than we think. They will be okay. I do not think kids raised by critically thinking atheist parents are going to grow to to join harmful religions for the most part. We don’t have to be like many of our religious parents were. They treated us that way because they were scared we would grow up and not believe like they do. But we need to teach our kids more how to think than what to think (although sharing some opinions is important too). I don’t think you need to worry because a kid thinks something is haunted. It’s either just for fun or being used as a way to get through life until they’re mature enough to actually handle final death. It’s a huge thing for many people to accept.
Dang, you already feel bad so I’m not going to try to make you feel worse. We all make parenting mistakes. I would like to say I think the reason some people believe in stuff is because they need to. My kid seems to believe in ghosts. He had like a legitimate mental breakdown when he was 5 and really realized that humans die and it’s inevitable (not only those who are sick or in an accident). He still has obsessive thoughts and existential anxiety. From the beginning I told him people believe different things. Personally, I don’t have any beliefs about life or death, but great grandma believes in heaven, aunty believes in ghosts, people believe you come back as babies, etc. I was very clear that we have no proof of any of this and that anyone who ever says their answer is the one and only true answer, is full of it. The truth is we only know what we can prove.
He’s a good critical thinker for his age. I think he knows ghosts aren’t real, but it helps him. It would honestly be cruel to take it away. He knows some religions teach bigotry and that some religions are cults and many others are cult-like (he’s quite interested in cults haha). There’s a difference between beliefs and religions. Kids are smarter than we think. They will be okay. I do not think kids raised by critically thinking atheist parents are going to grow to to join harmful religions for the most part. We don’t have to be like many of our religious parents were. They treated us that way because they were scared we would grow up and not believe like they do. But we need to teach our kids more how to think than what to think (although sharing some opinions is important too). I don’t think you need to worry because a kid thinks something is haunted. It’s either just for fun or being used as a way to get through life until they’re mature enough to actually handle final death. It’s a huge thing for many people to accept.