The children of Pagan families are not assumed to hold their parents’ beliefs but encouraged to make their own informed choices. However they will be familiar with Pagan imagery and belief from an early age and may find comfort in it when they are not at home or feeling unwell.
Pagan families try to ensure that their childrens wishes are taken seriously. We try not to patronise our children, we guide them, we make decisions for them and we aim to involve them in the choices we make for them. No child wants to experience painful treatment but we will help them face it with as many helpful tools as possible. This could mean involving the child in very simple relaxation exercises or, like any other parent, bringing in Teddy to share the experience, whatever is most helpful.
If a child is extremely ill and expresses the wish to die we will take this seriously. This doesn’t mean that we will remove our child from medical care but that we will listen and talk to staff, friends and the child and together make an educated ethical decision about treatment. With the child we may decide that they be allowed to die with as much medical backup as necessary or should go full steam ahead with treatment. We may want to bring them home with the support that community services can offer. The childs long-term interest are our main concern, as they are for the hospital team, but perhaps we may be less likely to hang onto any slender hope for recovery. The death of a child is terrible and tragic but Pagans believe in some form of reincarnation and a benevolent deity. This can perhaps make appalling decisions easier for us to reach.
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