Carnival of Secular/Atheist Parenting, Ninth Edition

This blog carnival is for secular parents!
If you are out there feeling slightly alone in the secular world looking for some like-minded parents with whom you can discuss basic parent-y things, this blog carnival is for you. The blogs included in this carnival and the blogs listed on the right side of this blog are parents who are raising their children to be freethinkers and parents who are out in their secularism.

Check them out and add yourself to the RSS feed on the right column of this blog to be among the first to get the carnival.

If you are a secular parent who blogs, please submit your parenting blog post for an upcoming carnival.  HOW TO SUBMIT A POST FOR THE CARNIVAL directions are at the end of this carnival post.

I am enjoying Vanessa's fun and clever blog entitled Life Sans God. Vanessa is an out atheist to many of her family and friends. The post submitted to this carnival called Dear Sister Christian is an open letter to her Christian loved-ones. I hope you also read her post entitled Incredible Years (Part 2). Vanessa transformed from devoted Christian to self-proclaimed atheist, from religious to godless. Her blog shares her thoughts on atheism, parenting, fitness, and more.

 

The Carnival of Atheist Parenting wishes to welcome Jen back again for another go with us! Jen's incredibly excellent blog Happiness Through Humanism is a wonderful resources for all parents wishing to learn more about What to Teach a Child. This blog post offers three important skills for parents to learn in order to provide an ethical upbringing for their children. This Floridian mom is interested in informing readers about humanism and how it can bring simplicity to the life of a family. Jen also offers the following blog posts:

• Humanist Learning Systems  http://humanistlearning.com 
• The Bully Vaccine  http://thebullyvaccine.com
• The Humanist Approach to Happiness                       http://happiness.jen-hancock.com/
• The Humanist Approach to Grief and Grieving  http://humanistgrief.com   

 

My own contribution to the carnival this week is a blog post from my blog My Own Mind called Challenging Teen, Redux. If you have a challenging teen, I think you will appreciate some of the suggestions that I offer in this post. I honestly think that your teen will appreciate it too. I also wrote a blog post entitled Parents: A Challenge for You. If you are up for it, give it a try! I have created these small challenges for myself at times and have had great weeks as a result! The memes are being pinned like crazy on Pinterest!

 

The next carnival is due out: April 30, 2014
Please send in your blog post submissions by April 29, 2014

Send the following information to Karen.loethen@gmail.com
Type CAP SUBMISSION or Carnival of Atheist Parenting in the email subject line.
TITLE OF BLOG:
URL OF BLOG:
TITLE OF POST:
URL OF POST:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION of writer or blog:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF POST:
IMAGES: Please indicate if you have a blog image that you prefer that I use if I include images in the carnival.

Carnival of Atheist Parenting, Eighth Edition

 secular parenting, atheist parenting, humanist parenting
Many first-generation parents are seeking in earnest and I am proud to be available and open and willing to offer my support. Not my advice or my expertise or my definition or my label but my support, my friendship, my small community.

There are many parents out there who are new to living a secular life, new to raising children without the traditional ways, sometimes hidden and living in seclusion due to their secular choices, afraid to be open and yet determined to raise their children as skeptics and as happy people. These atheist parents are looking for those few voices out there who can offer them understanding, community, advice, or just a general feeling of being normal.

This blog carnival contains blog posts by parents who are raising their children in a secular home, without religion, dogma-free.

If you are here for the first time, I warmly WELCOME you!
Please connect to the RSS feed on the right side of the page 
so that you can be among the first to read the carnival 
and so that you don't forget us!

When reading blog posts remember: 
Bloggers love your feedback!  

If you like what you read, please share!

• I want to welcome Vanessa from Life Sans God blog. And I need to tell you that I am a new fan of her blog! Vanessa submits a blog post entitled Team Jesus Forever, Right? to this carnival. In this post Vanessa shares a story about coming out as an atheist to a colleague. While on the blog site, please read more of her wonderful writing! I can also recommend reading a post called Happy Post Challenge: Children! Especially if adorable little boys make you smile. And her recent post called My Beautiful Child-Self is moving and beautiful. Welcome to this carnival, Vanessa! I hope to hear from you again soon.

Meme courtesy of
Homeschool Atheist Momma

• Amanda at her Raising Skeptics blog submitted a piece called Why do We Need Santa? to this carnival, but I missed posting it last time and then I was off of my feet with an injury. SO, although this is late, with my apologies to Amanda, here is that post. Amanda is a burgeoning atheist parenting blogger and I do hope to encourage her in her blogging endeavors! Also check out Princesses...Please and Is it Tough Love? where Amanda shares her struggle with addressing death with her young daughter.

•  Jen at Sumogirl.com pulls no punches this month as she writes her post on the disturbing issue of child abuse in the guise of religious tradition in this blog piece entitled Disobedience. Also read her interesting musings On her post entitled Wondering About Happiness. You might also want to read a piece called Teen Sex. You can read more by Jen at her website. Jen, I hope you forgive my crazy confusion this month!

Meme courtesy of
Homeschool Atheist Momma

• Mandy, writer of Secular Mom blog, submits this fun blog post called Truth in Science Fiction where she shares a series of books that her children have enjoyed and that have spurred some great conversations about God and the role science and technology have had in answering those once-answerable questions attributed to God. Mandy is a mother of five wonderful children living in the Bible Belt. I hope you check out her blog where she shares ideas for raising freethinkers.

• Mandy also has a forum on her blog for secular parents to chat, check it out!

• My own contributions to the carnival this week from my blog newly entitled My Own Mind are posts entitled Do You Know Who I Am?, Just in Case He's Real, and An Atheist Discusses Death and Grief. I have written quite a bit about atheist parenting lately and have redesigned my blog. Check it out.

Our family moved back to the USA this month from Australia, 

so please forgive errors and repeats!   

And YES, we are glad to be home and YES, we do miss it!

Join us in two weeks for the next blog 

Carnival of Atheist Parenting.

Please submit your blog posts next time 
or encourage your favorite blogger to!
I appreciate your support for this project.

 And Remember, I am not looking for atheist blogs; 
I am looking for parenting blogs!

Please submit your parenting blog post today!

 The next carnival is due out March 30th, 2014

Please send in your blog post submissions by March 29th, 2014

Send the following information to Karen.loethen@gmail.com

Type CAP SUBMISSION or Carnival of Atheist Parenting in the email subject line.
TITLE OF BLOG:
URL OF BLOG:
TITLE OF POST:
URL OF POST:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION of writer or blog:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF POST:

The Carnival UP in March!

This month CAP is on break!

We are moving from Australia back to the USA.

The next Carnival of Atheist Parenting

will be posted on
Saturday, March 15th, 2014

To submit a post for this carnival please send the following information to Karen.loethen@gmail.com
Type CAP SUBMISSION or Carnival of Atheist Parenting in the email subject line.
TITLE OF BLOG:
URL OF BLOG:
TITLE OF POST:
URL OF POST:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION of writer or blog:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF POST:
IMAGES:  indicate if an image of my choice can be included with your submission or if you have an image you would prefer or if you prefer no image at all.
Images should be 222 x 222 or smaller to be used in the carnival.  Include the image with your email.

A Blog Carnival of Atheist Parenting, Sixth Edition

Why a blog carnival for atheist parenting?

As a woman blogging on atheist parenting, I often get asked why I would feel the need to blog on atheist parenting, isn't it just...parenting?  There are many parents out there who are new to living a secular life, new to raising children without the traditional ways, sometimes hidden and living in seclusion due to their secular choices, afraid to be open and yet determined to raise their children as skeptics and as happy people. These atheist parents are looking for those few voices out there who can offer them understanding, community, advice, or just a general feeling of being normal. Many first-generation parents are seeking in earnest and I am proud to be available and open and willing to offer my support. Not my advice or my expertise or my definition or my label!  My support, my friendship, my small community. 

This blog carnival contains blog posts by parents who are raising their children in a secular home, without religion, dogma-free.

If you are here for the first time, I warmly WELCOME you!
Please connect to the RSS feed on the right side of the page 
so that you can be among the first to read the carnival 
and so that you don't forget us!

 When reading blog posts PLEASE leave a comment!
Bloggers love your feedback. 
If you like what you read, please be so good as to
share on your blog, on Facebook,
in your atheist groups, and with friends!

Welcome Chris from Born Again Atheist blog to this carnival with his post entitled How Atheist Are You?  Chris is a single father of two.  His blog is all about doing his part to make skepticism and Rational thought prevail. He hates bullshit and lies.  This blog post is just one of many where Chris works his way through the journey toward atheism.  He works hard to make sure that he does his part as a father for his daughters, who live in custody of their religious mother, as he seeks to encourage critical thinking and wonder in their lives.  Welcome to this carnival, Chris.

Amanda on Raising Skeptics blog submits a timely blog post about Santa Claus called Why Do We Need Santa?  Amanda is the mother of a lovely five year old who is already showing signs of wisdom and skepticism!  Amanda, I hope that we hear from you and your family again in the future as you live your life in a beautiful secular family! 

My own blog post offering this week from my blog at Atheist Homeschool Momma is called My Calling. Nobody every said that parenting was going to be easy, and it isn't. But it is the most important thing in my life.
On my blog I have slowly been working on a series of posts that address the ridiculous claims aimed at atheists in general.  In my blog post Science is Your God I address one of the weirdest and most ironic of these claims.

We are still new SO and I appreciate it when you SHARE!
   

 The next carnival is due out: December 30th, 2013
Please send in your blog post submissions by December 29, 2013

Send the following information to Karen.loethen@gmail.com

Type CAP SUBMISSION or Carnival of Atheist Parenting in the email subject line.
TITLE OF BLOG:
URL OF BLOG:
TITLE OF POST:
URL OF POST:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION of writer or blog:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF POST:

Carnival of Atheist Parenting, Seventh Edition

atheist parenting humanist blog carnival
This blog carnival contains blog posts by parents who are raising their children in a secular home, without religion, dogma-free.

If you are here for the first time, I warmly WELCOME you!
Please connect to the RSS feed on the right side of the page 
so that you can be among the first to read the carnival 
and so that you don't forget us!

 When reading blog posts PLEASE leave a comment!
Bloggers love your feedback. 

If you like what you read, please be so good as to
share on your blog, on Facebook, 
in your atheist groups, and with friends!

• Amanda at Raising Skeptics blog submitted a piece called Why do We Need Santa? to this carnival, but I missed posting it last time and then I was off of my feet with an injury. SO, although this is late, with my apologies to Amanda, here is that post. Amanda is a burgeoning atheist parenting blogger and I do hope to encourage her in her blogging endeavors! Check out her blog post Yet Another Abortion Debate! where Amanda shares her frustrations with social media and also shares her points of view on a controversial issue.

•  Jen at Sumogirl.com pulls no punches this month as she writes her post on the disturbing issue of child abuse in the guise of religious tradition in this blog piece entitled Disobedience. You can read more by Jen at her website.

• Mandy, writer of Secular Mom blog, submits this fun blog post called Truth in Science Fiction where she shares a series of books that her children have enjoyed and that have spurred some great conversations about God and the role science and technology have had in answering those once-answerable questions attributed to God. Mandy is a mother of five wonderful children living in the Bible Belt. I hope you check out her blog where she shares ideas for raising freethinkers. AND, it turns out that Mandy and I are near-neighbors back home!

• Mandy also has a forum on her blog for secular parents to chat, check it out!

• My own post contributions from my blog Homeschool Atheist Momma blog start with a post called I Trusted my Gut, reminding us, as parents, to trust ourselves and trust our children! In Moments of Reflection I do show my insecurities in being out and about as an atheist. It's been an issue for me quite a bit lately... it happens! And finally, Atheist Parenting Questions. Check it out!

The carnival was quite small this week. 
I thank the contributors this week.
I have been off of my feet after a small fall, a fall from which I have nearly completely healed, and have not, therefore, cast about online looking for blog posts for this edition of the carnival.

Hopefully we will have more for you to read next time.
Please let me know if you run across a great blog we might include here!

At the same time, although the carnival is quite small,
I plan on continuing publishing this carnival of Atheist Parents
as long as it makes sense.
I could use your help if you see this project as worthwhile.

 The next carnival is due out: February 15, 2014
Please send in your blog post submissions by February 13, 2014

Send the following information to Karen.loethen@gmail.com

Type CAP SUBMISSION or Carnival of Atheist Parenting in the email subject line.
TITLE OF BLOG:
URL OF BLOG:
TITLE OF POST:
URL OF POST:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION of writer or blog:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF POST:

Carnival of Atheist Parenting, Fifth Edition

 
Why a blog carnival for atheist parenting?

There are many parents out there who are new to living a secular life, new to raising children without the traditional ways, sometimes hidden and living in seclusion due to their secular choices, afraid to be open and yet determined to raise their children as skeptics and as happy people. These atheist parents are looking for those few voices out there who can offer them understanding, community, advice, or just a general feeling of being normal. Many first-generation parents are seeking in earnest and I am proud to be available and open and willing to offer my support. Not my advice or my expertise or my definition or my label!
My support, my friendship, my small community. 

This blog carnival contains blog posts by parents who are raising their children in a secular home, without religion, dogma-free.

If you are here for the first time, I warmly WELCOME you!
Please connect to the RSS feed on the right side of the page 
so that you can be among the first to read the carnival 
and so that you don't forget us!

 When reading blog posts PLEASE leave a comment!
Bloggers love your feedback. 

If you like what you read, please be so good as to
share on your blog, on Facebook, 
in your atheist groups, and with friends!

Debbie at Kids Without Religion blog encourages parents to raise logical, independent thinkers.  Debbie was kind enough to let me include her post Can our Friends Make us Sick?  You must also read her recent Guest Post:  Religious Belief & Legal Protection.  Debbie, your blog is exactly what we are looking for here at CAP!  I hope to see more of your future posts included in the carnival.

Martha at Humanist Mom blog sent this timely post entitled A Tour Around Ye Ol' (Godless) Tannenbaum as this secular momma ponders the reason for putting up a tree in our homes in December.  Martha is a fine art printmaker printmaker, instructor, and secular humanist community leader.  On her Humanist Mom blog she writes about a wide variety of topics that excite, puzzle, or piss her off. She is the mother of two fantastic daughters.  You can see some of her work on her etsy page.  Martha hopes that what she has to say is of interest to other secular parents. Welcome to this blog carnival Martha! I am thrilled to include you this week! 

Kristen at little lodestar blog is an atheist who lives with her husband and school-aged daughter just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. She is a writer and attorney practicing in the area of urban agriculture, zoning and land use law. In her spare time, she blogs at www.littlelodestar.com where she writes essays about navigating life and its various issues anew with her young daughter as her guide (her little lodestar). She also posts book reviews of children's and adult books and shares photographs of the small moments and scenes she stumbles upon in her daughter's wake. You can also find Kristen on Twitter (@littlelodestar) and Instagram (littlelodestar). Her blog post called Tickets to a Show: Being an Atheist Parent is the result of mulling over in her mind about what some of the differences might be between atheist/agnostic parenting (if not approaches to life and living in general) and religiously informed parenting. The biggie, it seems to Kristen, is always death and how we approach and explain it, but also perhaps how we as secular folks emotionally deal with death given our perspective about what does and does not happen after death. You will love Kristen's informed musings as she navigates her way through life with her Little Lodestone as motivation.

Tracy is a young mommy and newbie blogger of  Crazy, Stupid Mommyhood blog and she really hits the holiday nail on the head with this post entitled Why All of the Santa Hate?  I "met" Tracy, mother of three and a very OUT atheist, on Google+ where she had posted the content of this blog post as a status update; I asked her to put it on her blog because I enjoyed it so much.  I think you will too!  Also check out her post called I'll Probably Die from Worrying.  There is not a parent on the planet who can't relate to that one!  Welcome Tracy and thank you for participating in the carnival. I do hope to see you again and I plan on following your blog! 


Mandy from Secular Mom blog reminds us all that It's That Time of Year Again. This inspired atheist mom to five children that she is raising in the Bible Belt USA tells us how she and her family make the holidays extra special.  I hope that all of us find a way to celebrate this holiday with lots of love!  Thanks, Mandy, for bringing your wisdom to this carnival.

Special THANKS to Susi for these submissions from her blog called Susi's Soap Box. Susi's Soap Box came about to give voice to internal frustrations with politics, religion, current events, relationships and just about everything else. Susi Bocks used it as a vehicle to speak out rather than bottling up all those emotions. What has evolved is a platform to articulate more than just those emotions; it's become a labor of love that seeks to not only voice what's wrong with this world, but also be a catalyst to change it.  The following posts are Originally Posted on Susi's Soap Box blog.  In A Letter to my Son, the piece was initially an assignment that her eldest son had in his Senior year. As his parent, Susi was asked to give him advice about beginning his upcoming adulthood. This piece was that advice. She felt that the piece was an opportunity for guidance, reaffirm what they had taught him all along and a chance to show him, once again, the depth of love she and her husband have for him.  In her post Full of Love, But Then Empty Susi reflects the circumstance and emotions of the miscarriage she suffered in 1995. At the time she was newly committed to the man who has now been her husband for the last 18 years. Although a very difficult time, it conveyed to her, deeply, what relationships were really about.  My sincere THANKS to Susi for sharing so intimately with us.

My own blog post offering this week from my blog at Atheist Homeschool Momma is called My Calling. Nobody every said that parenting was going to be easy, and it isn't. But it is the most important thing in my life. 

On my blog I have slowly been working on a series of posts that address the ridiculous claims aimed at atheists in general.  In my blog post Science is Your God I address one of the weirdest and most ironic of these claims.

 That concludes the carnival for this week.

We are still new SO and I appreciate it when you SHARE!  

 The next carnival is due out: December 30th, 2013
Please send in your blog post submissions by December 29, 2013

Send the following information to Karen.loethen@gmail.com

Type CAP SUBMISSION or Carnival of Atheist Parenting in the email subject line.
TITLE OF BLOG:
URL OF BLOG:
TITLE OF POST:
URL OF POST:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION of writer or blog:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF POST: