Hi! I was wondering if you ever involve your children into your practice? Like do you ever open them up to the idea and teach them things? Do you have any tips for being a spiritual mom and wanting to teach your kids all about it? Thanks!
Hi there! I (EstFortis) do include my littles in my practice. They love it!
Both of them are self-proclaimed green witches (”because we’re good at gardening!”), so we spend lots of time outside, picking flowers, watering the gardens, and talking about and using different herbs. I try to do this both explicitly (witches take care of the world around them, and that includes plants!) and more subtly, like when we were at the park and identified pennyroyal, how it’s related to mint that we eat, and how we can use it (great for deterring bugs!). We also love to look at the moon and stars together, and there’s an absolutely lovely book called Walk When the Moon is Full that we read; it has inspired some evening walks.
As a hearth witch, myself, we also do a lot of kitchen work. Both kiddos love to bake, and the older one especially loves to use herbs in our cooking. She can identify a few, but is especially drawn to thyme and will gather it for our recipes (though she also eats it on the way to the house so I often only get a leaf or two by the time we need to put it in our recipe). We have also talked a little about the concept of hospitality, though the oldest is not quite 4 and the youngest is just 2 so it’s a pretty rudimentary conversation at this point.
Finally, of course we celebrate the turning of the year, usually emphasizing food and nature. Midsummer and Lughnasadh are usually met with a picnic and berry and/or flower picking. Mabon is the beginning of our bread season (it’s just too hot in August, despite the tradition) and Samhain and Yule are, of course, big feast occasions. We talk a little about the dead/ honoring those who have gone before us, but again, pretty low level stuff. Both kids are VERY into books, so we do a lot of those too, though mostly not super explicitly spiritual. We read The Story of the Root Children in the spring, and The Shortest Day in the winter and as I mentioned above, Walk When the Moon is Full, which takes you through a year of full moons.
Side note about books - when we do read kids’ books about witches, we talk a lot about how Mama is a witch but she doesn’t have green skin or warts and she doesn’t fly on a broom. It’s a complicated thing to want them to understand pop culture enough to get along in the world but to also recognize that it’s wrong. When they get older it’ll be easier but right now the 4yo often says that everyone is a witch and I have to gently correct her and remind her that everyone gets to decide for themselves. She has no real idea yet that some people think witches are bad.
For the most part my practice is pretty every-day, and that makes it really easy to include my kiddos. Our altar is on the baking rack in the dining room so it’s accessible to them to put things on or take things off regularly (though I’ve had to be somewhat strict about which crystals they’re allowed to handle – they’re both fascinated by rocks, and each have a special one or two that they’re particularly attached to) and I’m just as likely to find the bracelet we bought at Claire’s on the altar as I am to see the feather picked up on our walk. It may not be what I would find sacred or even aesthetically pleasing, but it is to them and I want to make sure they are comfortable and confident in expressing and sharing that.
Thanks so much for this ask! I love talking about my kidlets, and I’d love to hear about how you and your kid(s) practice together, too!
All our love, Your Witch Mums
