A review of some recent books on childhood religion

Abstract

T HE INVITATION to write an article on new books about childhood and their usefulness with reference to ethical and religious growth is both a challenge and a cause for frustration. Where to begin? What books to indude? How to keep the whole thing manageable? Most of the books that I have been reading in this area point to three conclusions: 1. The infancy and early childhood years are basic to ethical and religious growth as well as to personality deve/opment. 2. Children are generally active learners, and learning is done by default in the situations where they are confined to being passive recipients. 3. No other influence is as strong as that of parents (or parent figure), but when parents fail to provide constructive guidance and positive models, negative peer influences are more likely to affect growth. Among the books for parents, Carroll Da~is's Room to Grow is one of the most constructive. Helping the parent to f~e up to the fact that parenthood is for the protection and development of the child and also for his release, Davis makes use of an interesting diagram in which he shows on the one side of the equation the parents' giving of care as balanced against the parents' respect for the child's growth. On the other side, the child's reliance on his parents is balanced by the independence of the child