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Parenting Without Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion by Dale McGowan, Ed.

Parenting Beyond Belief by Dale McGowan (ed.)

Parenting Beyond Belief by Dale McGowan (ed.)

While I would recommend this book, it is not what I expected it to be.

It will be quite helpful if you are new to being “beyond belief” and want to get to know the basics and see how other people cope; many helpful personal accounts to that effect are provided, including how to survive in a “hostile” environment. What the book does not provide though, with certain exceptions, is a more systematic approach on how to develop and teach secular ethics in your home, how to cope with children’s questions, including questions they bring home from friends, school, or elsewhere.

Mind, it’s not that you won’t find such things in the book! Bits and pieces are provided by personal accounts throughout, and there are long lists where you can get advice, help, support, and further information. But, apart from the lists, all this is not done in a systematic way: it might be helpful and it might make you more confident, but you can’t use this book as a practical, down-to-earth guide on how to raise your children beyond belief.

This review was also published at LibraryThing (but isn’t there anymore for reasons related to my physical library).
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