Book Review: Parenting Pagan Tots by Janet Callahan

I first heard of Janet Callahan and her work with pagan parenting on Twitter from a Pagan Business Network tweet. I clicked through and found myself engrossed in her website's blog and signed up for her Planning Pagan Holidays eCourse.

Inspired and curious, I went on to buy her book Parenting Pagan Tots. My son is 11 months old currently and already so mobile he is getting into everything. His interest in all that Mama and Dada are doing is rampant. I thought Parenting Pagan Tots sounded like a great guide for the months and couple of years to come.

One of the questions Parenting Pagan Tots first approaches is whether or not to even raise a child in pagan spirituality. I love Janet's response to parents who choose not to "indoctrinate" their children and, in choosing not to teach them their path, leave them floundering to figure things out on their own. She points out that many of us came to our pagan paths not from atheism but from other belief systems, which become our foundations for exploring other religions. As we learn, we can remove that foundation, having built a new one that better suits us. As someone who is for raising children in the parent's belief system, especially in a way that isn't forcing specific dogma on them or allowing them to to take oaths to remain with a certain path, I resonated a lot with what she was saying.

One of the great things about this book was that it went beyond philosophical speculation about children and spirituality. Janet offers a lot of ideas about activities to help young children get involved with a parent's religious practice without forcing them to cope with ideas too old for them. Some of her suggestions for little ones are ideas I've already been playing around with such as a Waldorf nature table, sensory play, and letting children play with crystals (my son loves carnelian too, haha).

Ideas in particular that I loved were the scent jars (cotton balls with essential oils in glass jars) for smell sensory play and using the Farmers Market as a way to see the seasons and purchase food to cook and teach children about the foods, cooking, gratitude, etc. I have been eyeballing the game Wildcraft that she mentions in the book and most likely will be purchasing it at some point in the future.

Janet does come at this concept from a Wiccan perspective with some focus on things like traditional ritual tools (chalice, athame, etc). While that isn't part of my path, I did glean some ideas from her suggestions. I mention it here only because some parents of non-wiccan or high magic paths might skip these passages thinking the suggestions don't pertain to them. Instead, I encourage you to read these passages with an open mind and replace things like delicate chalice or heavy crystal salt bowl with tools that you use in your practice (putting away tarot cards but allowing your toddler to carefully, with supervision, explore your pendulum).

Lastly, the list of resources at the end is a fantastic reference as well for new pagan parents. I've added those resources to the growing list here on Terrestrials.

I give this book 5 stars and highly recommend it for pagan parents of babies and toddlers who are looking for a book to help them make that first step. I will say that it is probably not for parents who already are well versed or have a set plan for incorporating their children into their pagan practice.