What do we have to offer our children and youth to deal with the pressures they face on a daily basis – or the myriad of crises they will experience over a life time? What skills do we give our children to help them cope with the world and it’s inevitable bumpy roads along life’s journey.

Our children’s worship includes a chance to practice meditation skills, and many of our curricula stress the importance of taking care of our earth as well as learning about the religious ideas of many people in different times and places so that they can help to formulate their own choices as they begin their spiritual journeys.

However, the essence of what we teach our children is to have faith in themselves – that they are in essence a spark of the divine. Through upholding our first principle – the inherent worth and dignity of every individual – we teach them that they are winners in the competition of life. They don’t have to prove anything to us. They don’t have to recite a creed or profess a belief in something they don’t necessarily understand. We accept them for who they are and love them for their unique individuality.

And that brings me to the second gift that Unitarian Universalism offers our children and youth. The gift of community. The support of friends and an extended family to help them through the worst that life will offer – and to celebrate the accomplishments and success that our youth achieve.

We teach even our youngest members of the congregation that they are welcome in our community because we like to hear their voices, we like to hear their ideas and that we think they are special. We believe children should not only be seen, but heard – and even listened to.

In a world where our children and youth are constantly bombarded with images of and information about people who are better, stronger, faster, smarter and funnier than they are – we welcome them into our religious community and teach them that their ideas matter. We give them faith in themselves and a safe spiritual community where they can celebrate their uniqueness – not strive to overcome it.