Comments on: Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief

By: D. G.

D. G. — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:26:46 +0000

I happened across this book in the library while looking for a different book shelved next to it, and being an atheist raising a 6 year old (grand)son with lots of questions, I thought perhaps this book would be useful. AND IS IT EVER. There is so much fun reading here; the author has a great sense of humor and beyond his own experiences, thoughts and suggestions, gives many, many other book titles which pertain to the topic at hand. I ordered this book from Amazon today since the library copy is due soon and the book is too good to be without. Wish I’d had a copy when my older children were young.
Rating: 5 / 5

By: Dean Marden

Dean Marden — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:30:40 +0000

Despite being written to aid people in raising children themselves, this book really makes you think objectively about how you yourself were shaped by your own parents, whether consciously or unconsciously. My mother was especially religious, but through how she encouraged my sister and I to learn for ourselves, she ended up raising two very open-minded children, and this book made the processes behind such a result very clear.

Aside from that, this volume does offer a wide array of very useful and insightful activities for raising freethinkers, as well as offering insights into the thought processes being acted upon in each circumstance, giving parents the ablity to think objectively about activities they could create themselves.
Rating: 5 / 5

By: G. Brewster

G. Brewster — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:21:46 +0000

Raising Freethinkers is my all time favorite parenting book. I cannot say enough good things about the author Dale McGowan. It can be a struggle raising a child as a free thinker/non-religious. With the majority of resources being faith bases, you start to feel alone. There is no one to ask questions to or get advice. You start to feel afraid of letting it slip that you are a non-religious family, yet struggle with trying to raise strong children. Raising Freethinkers gives you some of the advice you need and a feeling of not being alone.

While I thoroughly enjoyed reading Parenting Beyond Belief, this book is a must have in your home. This is one of the few books that is always out, available to me at a moments notice. There is so much information in this book to not only aid raising your children, but to also look into your own life.

Even though this book is aimed at the non-religious, I think the religious would benefit in reading. Not to change your beliefs, but to get a glimpse of what Atheists, Agnostics and other non-religious families. To see that we are truly trying to raise our children to be moral and ethical, to help others, not be judgemental, etc.

With McGowan's humor, Raising Freethinkers is an extremely fun read with a lot of useful information in it. Rating: 5 / 5

By: MotherLodeBeth

MotherLodeBeth — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:42:51 +0000

Knowing one of the co authors, Molleen Matsumura(Voices for Evolution), I highly recommend this book. Its not so much a book for or about parents wanting to raise a secular or non-religious child, but its a book for parents who want to raise smart, thinking children. Teaching a child how to think and not what to think. So if you are a parent, plan on being a parent, know someone who is about to become a parent, or you have a parent, get the book.
Rating: 5 / 5

By: Andrea Fluegge

Andrea Fluegge — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:11:25 +0000

Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves: Transforming Parent-child Relationships from Reaction And Struggle to Freedom, Power And Joy

Rating: 4 / 5