UUI and many other UU churches have a tradition of celebrating various milestone ceremonies throughout the growing up years of our children. After a Child Dedication Ceremony, which is typically for infants and toddlers, but can be done for older children as well, the next milestone at UUI is Age of Reason.

The 2019 Age of Reason ceremony at UUI is scheduled for Sunday, February 2.

At UUI this ceremony is traditionally done with children who are in first grade, including homeschool and unschool equivalent-aged children.

Below is a brief description of what to expect and why we do this.

What to expect:

This ceremony takes place during the Words for All Ages portion of the Sunday Service. Our Director of Ministry, Jamie Hinson-Rieger, will call parents and children forward. Parents will be asked to present a book they have chosen for their child and tell them why they have chosen it. Parents/grandparents typically chose a book that is either special to them or has a message they particularly want their child to learn. If you are not a fan of public speaking, Jamie can help you with your part if you would like.



Why we do this:

It's important that we mark important milestones in the faith development of our children and youth. This ceremony is part of the UU tradition because of two things that UUs have always celebrated: reason and education.

The age of "seven plus or minus one" is the age at which many child developmental experts say children experience a notable surge in their ability to reason, to discern truth from fantasy, and to guide their own actions according to a newly developing sense of moral conscience.

UUs believe that a big part of religious education is helping the child develop these new faculties. Books (education) are one of the tools by which we do this.

Books also help develop a child's imagination and sense of empathy, by seeing the world as it could be (or seeing fantastic worlds that could never be) and by seeing the world through the eyes of others.

In general, books have always had a very important role in UU history by bringing fresh new ideas to people who thought critically about religion and philosophy and the social issues of their day, and who blended those new ideas into our tradition.

If you would like to see a copy of last year's bulletin for examples of messages to book recipients, email Susanne at re@uui.org.

If your family is interested in participating, please complete the form below.