When my child asked to bring a neighborhood friend to a full moon ritual . . .
(excerpted from September 6, 1997 posting to the Bright Blessings mailing list)
. . .
A few weeks ago our family was preparing a day trip to a nearby forest to celebrate the full moon with a group of children. My son, Tommy (age 6), and daughter Danica (age 4.5) had spent the early morning playing with the neighbors, and came to me with what I thought was a difficult request: "Mama, other people get to take their friends to church . . . can't I take Zannah (Tommy's best friend, a 7-yr-old girl who lives behind us) with us to the woods? She wants to go!" I explained that while I wouldn't mind the extra (Zannah often goes with us other places), people are often careful about where their children worship--that Zannah's parents might object to her attending a ritual among people from a different religion than they practice. The kids convinced me at least to extend the invitation, although I warned them that I would in no way conceal the purpose of the trip, particularly when the issue involved someone else's minor child! To my surprise, though, her parents agreed, and readily--they were actually happy to have us invite her. I was surprised enough that I went back over my explanation, just to be certain that they understood that they were giving their daughter permission to participate in a Wiccan ritual, and that they recalled our earlier discussions about what our religion involves. Her parents' response was wonderful (and I'll share it too, if only from pride! *wink*): Her mother laughed and told me, "Look, your kids are bright, and the best-behaved kids Zannah's hooked up with since we've lived here! Whatever it is you're doing with them, do it with mine! You want to take the others?" (*grin*)
Unfortunately, we didn't have seat belts for Zannah's brothers, and they weren't interested enough to merit arranging other rides at the last minute. But, Zannah went with us, and participated, and loved the other children there. She wants to go with us again, and her parents are still happy with that idea. So perhaps it is possible for my Wiccan younglings to participate in that grand Southern tradition of running off "to church" with one's friends in tow . . .
I will mention, as a side note, that I'm still very conservative about the idea of teaching/training minor children. (That's largely because of the potential legal entanglements, regardless of my current questioning of children's-versus-parental rights in such matters.) I've only agreed to teach people who were old enough to prevent legal troubles, except in one instance where a teenager came from a Wiccan family and her mother asked me for help with a specific issue. I have given one other teenager a suggested reading list, etc., when her mother (who was not Wiccan), asked for assistance for her curious daughter at a local bookstore, and was referred to me. Although I would be a bit concerned, I have said that age alone would not be enough for me to turn down a truly interested youngster, but that written parental consent and full awareness would be welcome. But now, as my children grow more social, this event showed us a somewhat different issue--as far as I know, Zannah's not currently interested in becoming Wiccan, and we're not deciding whether to "teach" her or not (although that's an inevitable by-product of participating, of course!) This simply involved children's natural desire to share what's important to them with their friends, and a little girl who thought Tommy's "church" was "really cool, because they play all through their service and didn't have a sermon, and the songs are easy. And we danced!" (Zannah's words)
. . .
Many dreams and many blessings,
Weavre