Humanist Parenting: Columns

The Institute for Humanist Studies recognizes that religion provides a great deal of structured support for parents. Non-religious parents often struggle to find support and advice from a humanist perspective. That's why IHS has published dozens of columns on parenting from humanist parents.

Table of Contents

Parenting Beyond Belief Column
Agnostic Mom
Sweet Reason
Other Columns

Parenting Beyond Belief Column

In October 2007, Humanist Network News launched a new monthly humanist parenting column featuring the contributors of the 2007 book Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion. The Parenting Beyond Belief Column is edited by Dale McGowan.

Here is a list of those columns to date:

New HNN Column: Parenting Beyond Belief
A wealth of new writers will be publishing parenting columns in HNN. HNN, Oct. 3, 2007

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Agnostic Mom: A Humanist Parenting Column

For more than one year, Noell Hyman published a humanist parenting column in Humanist Network News, the weekly e-zine of the Institute for Humanist Studies. A former Mormon who discovered humanism after becoming a parent of three, Hyman's "Agnostic Mom" covered a variety of non-religious parenting issues with a deeply personal touch. With the help of IHS, "Agnostic Mom" became a huge success and reached a mainstream audience on the popular parenting website, ClubMom.com. Two "Agnostic Mom" columns were reprinted in the 2007 book Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion.

Here is a complete list of "Agnostic Mom" columns:

Agnostic Mom writes religion-free parenting blog, column
Noell Hyman is a former Mormon-turned agnostic known in the blogosphere as "Agnostic Mom." She writes a popular parenting blog, "Agnostic Mom" about raising children without religion. She is now the newest HNN columnist to join our ranks of distinguished writers. Her column on secular parenting will appear in HNN once a month. This first installment is her story. HNN, Feb. 15, 2006

Agnostic Mom: The complication of simplifying complications
In this installment of Noell Hyman's column on non-religious parenting, she describes how her family celebrated Darwin's Theory of Evolution for six evenings to teach the kids about the progression of life. By the end the children were almost as excited about Darwin Week as they were about Christmas. HNN, March 15, 2006

Agnostic Mom: To Easter Bunny or Not To Easter Bunny?
The last thing Noell Hyman expected when she got married was to face the possibility of giving up Santa and the Easter Bunny. So what do you think the Agnostic Mom told her kids about the big rabbit this Easter? HNN, April, 19, 2006

Agnostic Mom: A System for Morality
Noell Hyman explores teaching children morality without religion. HNN, May 10, 2006

Agnostic Mom: The End, As We Know It
How humanists can gently explain life and death to their children. HNN, June 14, 2006

Agnostic Mom: The Line
How can children respect their religious grandparents while not agreeing with their views? HNN July, 12, 2006

Agnostic Mom: Educational Evolution Activities for Children
Tools and methods for teaching evolution to children of all ages. HNN, Aug. 16, 2006

Agnostic Mom: Coping With Parental Difficulties
Dealing with family crises without resorting to religion. HNN, Sept. 13, 2006

Agnostic Mom: Who's Afraid of Ghosts?
Parents do not need to foster a belief in the supernatural to encourage creativity in their children. Oct. 11, 2006

Agnostic Mom: Empowering Children in a World of Need
Emerging reproductive technologies require new definitions of parenthood. HNN, Nov. 22, 2006

Agnostic Mom: Darwin Day: A Day of Celebration and Education
What Darwin Day is and how to celebrate it. HNN Jan. 17, 2007

Agnostic Mom: How to Have a Week-Long Darwin Celebration with Your Children
Educate and delight your kids with a step-by-step celebration guide. HNN, Jan. 24, 2007

Agnostic Mom: A Humanist Wedding
Joyful ceremonies suffer no loss when religion is removed. HNN, Feb. 21, 2007

Agnostic Mom: When the Symphony Stops Playing
Finding meaning in life without religion. HNN, March 14, 2007

Agnostic Mom: Will Our Children Be Compliant Atheists or Independent Thinkers?
Our children must determine their worldview on their own. HNN, April 18, 2007

Agnostic Mom Radio
Noell Hyman appeared on the Humanist Network News podcast to share her story of creating a special humanist holiday celebration for her children. When asked which holiday her children prefer, Noell's children pick Darwin Week over Christmas hands down.

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"Sweet Reason" on Humanist Parenting

In 2005, the Institute for Humanist Studies started publishing "Sweet Reason," an advice column for humanists written by Molleen Matsumura. "Sweet Reason" provides compassionate advice on all issues that may arise for humanists and those who love and live with us. A humanist activist and mother, Matsumura has responded to dozens of questions addressing parenting and family. Here are those columns:

Sweet Reason, how can parents introduce children to myth?
Molleen Matsumura provides freethinking parents with some great resources to teach children about gods and other mythical characters. HNN, April 5, 2006

Sweet Reason, how can high school atheists find equality?
Sweet Reason lends advice to a high school atheist who does not want to participate in mandatory religious services while on a trip with the school band. HNN, May 11, 2005

Sweet Reason, I need help talking to conservative dad
"Sweet Reason" offers advice to a reader having trouble speaking to her conservative father about her growing disbelief in religion and God. HNN, May 25, 2005

Sweet Reason, my cousin is gay, religious and conflicted
Sweet Reason give advice to a letter writer who has a gay cousin who is religiously conflicted. HNN June 8, 2005

Sweet Reason: What's an Atheist Father to Do?
How does a parent replace religious rituals with a sound humanist foundation? HNN, July 5, 2006

Sweet Reason, I don't like my family
A reader asks: "What should I do if I don't like my family?" Sweet Reason has the answer. HNN Aug. 17, 2005

Sweet Reason, religious mothers won't let sons date me
Your significant other's parent hates atheists. Now what? Sept. 7, 2005

Sweet Reason, we've got a real hypothetical situation here
A non-religious couple is asked by a religious couple to raise their childrend for them should anything ever happen to them. But the religious couple has a double standard when it comes to raising children. HNN, Sept. 14, 2005

Sweet Reason: Explaining Death to Children
How to explain death to children without recourse to an afterlife. HNN, Oct. 18, 2006

Sweet Reason, should we stop grandma from brainwashing kid?
A reader asks Sweet Reason: "Should we try to get the French born grandmother to stop brainwashing the kid? " HNN, Nov. 9, 2005

Sweet Reason, Muslim dad making me pray
A mostly humanist reader living in Bangladesh is being forced to pray by a Muslim father. Sweet Reason offers some humanist advice for dealing with the situation. HNN, Jan. 4, 2006

Sweet Reason: Dealing with a Fundamentalist Family
How -- and when -- to communicate with ultra-religious family members. HNN, Mar. 14, 2007

Sweet Reason, how can parents introduce children to myth? Part II
Molleen Matsumura further explores the topic of rationally exploring myth with children. HNN, April 19, 2006

Sweet Reason: I'm Scared I Might Be Gay
How to deal with sexual-identity angst, HNN, July 11, 2007

Sweet Reason: Facing Challenges to Evolution Education
How to fight back against the teaching of "intelligent design" in your child's school. HNN, Aug. 2, 2006

Sweet Reason: Should My Atheist Son Join the Cub Scouts?
An atheist parent seeks advice about her son wanting to join a group with an anti-atheist philosophy. HNN, Sept. 5, 2007

Sweet Reason: How Can Parents Help Kids Adjust to Changing Beliefs?
Former theists wonder how to de-program religious kids. HNN Oct. 10, 2007.

Sweet Reason: Help, My Son is Being Brainwashed by His Best Friend!
How do you help an adult son who is under the spell of a controlling girlfriend? HNN Jan. 9, 2008

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Other Parenting Columns

Over the years, the Institute has published a variety of columns and articles about humanist parenting in it's weekly Humanist Network News ezine. Here is a sample:

When kids bring God to dinner
In an April 28 article for Salon, scientist Richard Dawkins criticizes parents who give their kids religious labels like Catholic or Muslim because "children are much too young to know what they think about the cosmos, life and morality." So how can humanist parents encourage their children to think for themselves without forcing them to become humanists by inheritance? IHS Associate Director Mary Ellen Sikes tackles this issue as she shares her experiences as a humanist parent. HNN, May 4, 2005

New humanist book for children
Author Helen Bennett explains why she wrote the children's book Humanism, What's That? HNN, May 25, 2005

Secular Parenting in a Religious World: An Interview with Margaret Downey
The courageous mother who took on the Boys Scouts shares her parenting ideas. HNN, Aug. 23, 2006