I found this little verse, the Pagan Children ABC:

A is for Athame, the knife that we use.
B is for Beltaine, when partners we choose.

C is for Circle where we all are one.
D is for Deosil, path of the Sun.

E is for Esbat, when we gather round.
F is for Fire and its crackling sound.

G is for the Goddess in beauty and love.
H is the Horned One, our Father above.

I is for Imbolg, candles light the way,
J is for June when it's Midsummer's Day.

K is for Karma, the things that we do.
L is for Lammas, harvest's almost through!

M is for Moon, riding way up so high,
N is for Nighttime, which darkens the sky.

O is for Ostara, when we hunt for eggs,
P is for Pan, with hairy goat legs.

Q is for the Quarters and there are just four,
R is for the Rites when we open the Door.

S is for Samhain, end of the year,
T is for Tarot cards, futures to hear

U is for Undines from the watery West,
V is for Vervain for protection and rest.

W is for Widdershins, the path of the moon.
X is the sign that's the sign of the God.

Y is for Yule and the sun's return,
Z is for the Zodiac, 12 signs to learn.

It got me to wonder, how will it affect a child to be raised in a pagan faith? Is it fair of the parents? So many of the pagans and occultists has been brought up in strict Christian households, and deeply resent that type of religions because of this.

Paganism is all about openmindedness and tolerance, but doesn't deliberatly "training" your child to become a witch go against this? A quick search brought me to several sites selling pagan books and toys to children, even little rubber athames. It's a big industry, apparently.

If I were pagan and I had a child I would bring it up in apagan way,
same as christians bring their children up in a christian way,
so I don't see anything wrong with it,
for a child is what his parents are :)

atleast in the beginning

How far would you take it? Would you teach the child spells, rituals, bring it to sabbaths, help it build an altar in its room, encourage it to concoct potions and herbal remedies on the easy-bake oven..?

Or just stick with reading pagan-inspired children's books and telling fairytales?

depends,
I would probably just read tories and such, ofcourse I'd bring the child to a sabbath, but I would only bring it again if the child wanted to,
the same my parents cdid with my church, they took me there so I could decide for myself if I liekd it or not

under any circumstances would I force my child to be pagan, that would just be wrong :D

If it were me, raising my own child, I would like to think that I would present quite a few different faiths to the child, and let them decide for themselves, after say....they were thirteen. Up until that time, I'd simply take them around and show them the different religions, and try to teach them about them all. I'd most likely start this when they were about eight years old.

However, that's honestly the roses and rainbows situation.

Being the way I am about Christianity, and thinking that it's all mostly a crock of shit as far as the churches themselves go, I would STILL like any child of mine to at least be involved with other children their age at the church, and so I'd most probably make them go, while keeping a close eye on the church, and caution my child against taking rituals and such too seriously.

Having said all that, I'd have to say that the reality of the situation is, if I were pagan, I'd probably bring my child up that way as well, if not so hardcore as I might be.

What a cute verse, must use it on my neices and nephews when i have them

I was raised Pagan, anglican and catholic. My grandmother taught me abouts herbs, energy, magic etc since I can remember. I was also brought to church up until I was 14, at that time it was presented to me that I could decided if I wanted to attend church or not... I elected no longer to attend. The door wasn't just open to me to go to other churchs, to speak to people of other faiths... it was encouraged that I explore things and that I find my own truth.

I was given the pratical of paganism before I was given anything else. Certain magic was forbidden to me until I turned 16. Then it was no holds bared. If I wanted to know, the way was made available to teach me.

If anything I feel this kind of up bringing helped me rather than hindered me.

Now that's interesting, whaty was forbidden for you? Basically, where did your parents (?) draw the line, and how did they enforce it?

It was relatively easy for my parents. My mom was Anglican, my father Catholic. (My mom's Dad is Anglican, her mom is Pagan) So my Grandmother was the one who taught me for the most part. My parents didn't have anything pagan in the house really. A few trinkets here and there.

The internet, as we know it now, didn't contain readily available material. So finding it from other than her would prove to be rather difficult. In point of fact I was brought up that no one should know what I was being taught or what I was. That was the hard part.

The line was made crystal clear by my grandmother, no hexes, no curses, no necromancy; all of that sort of thing was off limits until they felt I was mature enough to handle it. Sure I poked into a few of her books on the subject when I was bored... but mostly she kept me occupied with all sorts of new things that I really never felt the urge to.

Save for once, I'll never forget this day either. I was nearly 12, I had just moved to a new small city. I didn't know anyone and the kids were so mean to me. I was devastated. They all had grown up with each other and basically wanted nothing to do with the new kid. I was mostly quiet and kept to myself. This one girl was just nasty. We were out of the football field and her one friend got behind me on four legs.. this other girl pushed me and I went back over the girl on all fours and gashed my head. I was more emotional hurt than physically.

I cried and called my grandmother. She tried to explain to me that for people to be that mean I should think of how unhappy they must be to live that way.

I naturally, did not see it that way. I wanted to curse this girl beyond cursing her. So my grandmother agreed and taught me the best curse to this day I have ever used.

'May all the happiness you brought me, may it return to you three fold'

I didn't think that was much of a curse to be honest. As I learnt later, it was the best one she could have taught me. You see it will only work if someone has done something deliberately to be malicious towards you. Mistakes or others things, it ignores. Plus, the universe tends to know what you mean by 'happiness'.

I've seen acts of Karma in motion using that spell just sometimes not when I wanted but then again it was a powerful lesson in the fact that everything has a season.