The spiritual life of young children

Abstract

The spiritual dimension is central to well-being as it is thought to be the domain of development that helps to weave everything together. That explains why, in the last decade, there has been a greater focus on the spiritual dimension of children’s lives and a surge of interest in holistic education. But what is spirituality? And how do children express their spiritual being? Spirituality has been described as ‘a fuzzy concept’. This dissertation seeks to explore the various definitions of spirituality and discusses three important elements of spirituality, namely Awareness, Purpose and Connectedness. This dissertation also gives an overview of the research that investigates how young children access and express their spiritual dimension. The last part is designed to appeal to educators who are interested in recognising and addressing the spiritual dimension of the young children in their care.