Chapter 9: Beginning at Birth: The Role of Spiritual Development in Raising Healthy Children for a Just and Good Society

This chapter is a personal account of how one early childhood educator/director began and completed a doctoral study for the sole purpose of finding a definition of spiritual development for all young children. The definition that emerged does not speak of god and religion but does reflect a system capable of sustaining itself. This system consists of deep and important relationships, matching a child’s basic dispositions (passions and personalities) to moments of wonder, awe, and joy; and complex dispositions (external responses to internal thoughts and feelings) demonstrating children’s ability to be caring, epithetic, and reverent at a young age. The chapter continues, as spiritual development is related to other developmental domains, including a transformation of STEM to STEAM to STREAMS. Finally, spiritual development is viewed as a tool for nurturing children in a way that may possibly insure a more just and good society.