Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide to Parenting Beyond Belief (Book Review)

Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide to Parenting Beyond Belief

It sounds fun, doesn’t it? I picture my kids in flowing flowered skirts looking around at everything and being inspired by a sense of awe and wonder. My parenting skills beyond belief, i.e., amazing and desired by others.

I totally misunderstood the title, which means parenting beyond religious belief.

The directions and activities are all structured for a household where the parents are either non-religious or atheists…I’m sure agnostics are okay too.

I didn’t know this until I started reading the book, due to my total misunderstanding of the title, so it was kind of a shock when I started reading about secular humanism and atheism and how to get through the minefield of religion while your child is in the school system.

For non-religioius parents in very religious areas there are even suggestions on how to get around having daddy give your daughter a purity ring without her being looked at as the town slut. (Yep, the word slut was totally in there.)

I have to say I’m on the fence. This book deserves to exist, absolutely. I believe that books for every family should be available and that there has been an increase in non-religious households and that those people deserve good parenting advice too.

My favorite part is that they don’t try and say to shield your child from religion, in fact, they say that to avoid religion altogether is just as bad as only giving children religion as an option.

But…then there’s the stuff about evolution and some Darwin thrown in and then I cringe because being a zealot for Darwin is exactly the same as being a zealot for Jesus – zealoty. But the book isn’t steeped in it and I was able to get through that part and to the very practical exercises on how to keep your children filled with curiosity and wonder.

Most of the practical knowledge in the book is in a Q&A format which makes it easy to read in small chunks of time (with two preschoolers, I can’t sit down and read a book in 6 hours like I used to) so you can absorb as many questions as you have time for. There are extensive notes and references at the end of every chapter so you can explore more on your own, as well.

Overall, I think if you are non-religious and have kids this book has seriously practical parenting advice. If you are raising your children in religion it still has really great ideas and practical advice – if you can read it without getting all zealoty and angry that not everyone in the world believes in God or are raising their children to believe in God.

It’s your call, but I have to say, I’m glad I read the book. It gave me a lot to think about.