018: The Spiritual Child: Possibly exaggerated, conclusions uncertain

Someone in a parenting group on Facebook suggested I do an episode on The Spiritual Child, by Dr. Lisa Miller.  My first thought was that it didn’t really sound like my cup of tea but I was willing to read it and at least see what it had to say.   I was surprised by the book’s thesis that spirituality can play a critical role in a child’s and adolescent’s development.  But I was astounded that her thesis was actually backed up by scientific research.   I invited Dr. Miller to be on the show and she initially agreed – but during my preparation I found that the science supporting spirituality doesn’t seem to be quite as clear-cut as the book says it is.  I invited Dr. Miller again for a respectful discussion of the issues but I didn’t hear back from her.   In this episode I describe the book’s major claims, and assess where the science seems to support these and where it doesn’t.  I conclude with some practices you can use to deepen your child’s spiritual connection, if you decide that this is the right approach for your family.   Note: I mainly focused on the research related to child development in this article, but as I was about to publish this episode I found an article claiming that the science behind some of Dr. Miller’s other assertions might not be so solid either.   I didn’t read all of those studies (because they’re not directly related to child development, and it took me a lot of hours to find and read just the ones that were), but the author’s conclusions very much mirror my own.   References Benson, P.L., Roehlkepartain, E.C., & Scales, P.C. 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Miller (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of psychology and spirituality. New York: Oxford. Shoshani, A., & Aviv, I. (2012). The pillars of strength for first-grade adjustment: Parental and children’s character strengths and the transition to elementary school. The Journal of Positive Psychology 7(4), 315-326. DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2012.691981 Sloan, R.P. & Bagiella, E. (2002). Claims about religious involvement and health. Annals of Behavioral Medicine 24(1), 14-21. DOI: 10.1207/S15324796ABM2401_0 Wagener, L.M. & Maloney, H.N. (2006). Spiritual and religious pathology in childhood and adolescence. In E. Roehlkepartain, P.E. King, L. Wagener, & P. L. Benson (Eds.), The handbook of spiritual development in childhood and adolescence (p.137-149). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.