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Faith is important to children, say charities
by Bill Bowder
THE IMPORTANCE of religion in children’s lives, and the part parents play in helping children of a mixed-faith or mixed-race relationship find their religious and racial identity were underlined in research published this week by two leading welfare charities, the Children’s Society and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The Children’s Society reported that almost two-thirds of adults polled for the latest part of its Good Childhood Inquiry (News, 25 April) agreed that religious or spiritual values played a key part in children’s development. The poll, conducted for the society by GfK NOP, suggested that people were concerned that children were losing contact with adults, whom they saw as the main source of a child’s sense of value. Professionals, however, should be wary about making assumptions about children’s developing a sense of their identity, says a 70-page report, Parenting “Mixed” Children: Difference and belonging in mixed race and faith families, by researchers at the London South Bank Univer-sity and the Family and Parenting Institute for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. After interviewing 35 couples and analysing Census data, they concluded: “How parents viewed difference and approached giving their children a sense of belonging cut across the idea that there is one ‘best’ way that parents in mixed relationships can understand their children’s identity.” Couples who were interviewed used three approaches to instil a sense of belonging in their children. Some did not see their child’s identity as necessarily rooted in their racial or faith backgrounds. Others had a mixed approach, seeing the child’s ethnic background as a “rooted, factual part of their identity”, but not feeling that that was also true of the child’s faith. A third group emphasised one aspect of their child’s background, and promoted a sense of belonging through it.Parenting “Mixed” Children is downloadable from www.jrf.org.uk |
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