The Pastoral Care of Children

The Pastoral Care of Children focuses on the need for pastoral caregivers to develop relationships with children and youth in their own right. Many pastoral caregivers have high anxiety when children are ill or hurt, they are unsure how to have a substantive conversation with a nine-year old, or their fears block them from hearing what children have to say. This book seeks to help pastoral caregivers overcome their anxiety by suggesting that a unique, playful, child-centered approach is called for. This approach is illustrated for you with stories of actual pastoral encounters with children to assist you with serving their spiritual needs.

Auteur

Harold G Koenig, Daniel H Grossoehme

Résumé
Explore a new way of pastoral care that enables caregivers to develop relationships and provide meaningful pastoral care to the children and youth they encounter! The Pastoral Care of Children focuses on the need for pastoral caregivers, clergy and chaplains to develop relationships with youths and gives you suggestions to overcome the anxiety associated with caring for an acutely ill child through unique, playful, and child-centered approaches. Many pastoral caregivers have high anxiety when children are ill or hurt, are unsure how to have a substantive conversation with a nine-year old, or their fears of what could be said keep them from hearing what children have to say. The effective approaches in The Pastoral Care of Children are illustrated to assist you with serving the spiritual needs of children. You will explore actual pastoral care experiences that will help you gain confidence in handling situations such as a teenager's desire to be baptized out of fear of death when neither he nor his parents believe in Christ. Intelligent and heartfelt, this valuable book gives you a complete theological exploration of ministering to children who may ask you Why me?, Why do people have to die? and What happens to children if they die before they are baptized? The Pastoral Care of Children helps you answer these questions with meaningful responses that are genuine and grounded with yourself, and reflect the parentsbeliefs. Some of the help you will discover in The Pastoral Care of Children includes:understanding the similarities and differences of caring for children in comparison to adults, such as different vocabularies but similar emotions, and realizing that children are very perceptiveusing play as a tool, for example referring to a puppet's experience in reference to the child to eliminate the child's self-consciousness and help him or her open upconfronting pastoral issues in acute care settings, such as fear, guilty feelings, and anger, from parents, family and the childhelping children recover from mental health issues such as depression, eating disorders, and identity and self-esteem issues by using cognitive therapyconducting prayer and rituals with children such as baptism, naming ceremonies, anointings, and funerals to assist the child and family through this spiritual rite of passage Complete with child and family focused approaches for dealing with the questions surrounding death, The Pastoral Care of Children also provides you with several cited scriptures, and a list of questions you may be asked by a child who is facing death. You will learn from actual circumstances pastoral caregivers have encountered and discover how to approach topics, and answer questions on God and death. The Pastoral Care of Children, an extremely resourceful book that will assist you in overcoming anxiety and help you deliver thoughtful and uplifting pastoral care to children and youth.

Contenu

Contents Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1. The Nature of Pastoral Care of Children What It Means What It Looks Like What Is Unique Who May Do It Pastoral Care and Human Development Chapter 2. Getting Beyond the Greeting Challenges Facing the Pastoral Visitor Visiting Young Children Visiting Adolescents Visiting with the Parents Family Satisfaction with Pastoral Visits Pastoral Identity Chapter 3. Pastoral Issues in Acute Care Settings Fear Guilty Feelings Anger Visiting in Acute Care Settings Chapter 4. Pastoral Issues in Chronic Care Spiritual Friendship Dynamics of Depression and Grief Making Decisions Caring for Children with Severe Chronic Conditions Chapter 5. Pastoral Care and Mental Health Issues Cognitive Therapy Depression Eating Disorders Identity and Self-Esteem Issues Confidentiality Issues Chapter 6. A Theological Reflection Responses to the Nature of Suffering Chapter 7. Using Prayer and Rituals with Children Baptism of Children Naming Ceremonies Anoiting Children with Oil Funerals and Children Annotated Bibliography Narratives About Illness Prayer and Rituals with Children Children and God Death and Dying Pastoral Care Theological Reflection Index