Children and Tarot

Zephyros

Following a thread in another section I was wondering if any people had taught Tarot to children at a young age. I don't have any myself, but I'm curious as how some one were to turn out if they saw the Tarot not as something "you do" (like an adult, someone who had started reading at a later age) but as something that had always been there and could be consulted just as easily as opening the refrigerator.
 

La Force

Following a thread in another section I was wondering if any people had taught Tarot to children at a young age. I don't have any myself, but I'm curious as how some one were to turn out if they saw the Tarot not as something "you do" (like an adult, someone who had started reading at a later age) but as something that had always been there and could be consulted just as easily as opening the refrigerator.

I will try to explain to the best of my personal experience as I can. I raised my two daughters and now my grandchildren, using tarot. I am currently teaching my grandson, I purchase the Fairy tale tarot - Lisa hunt for him. this I felt was good to get him started cause my daughter can read the stories to him from the book as he looks at the pictures (bedtime). I keep things very simple and fun, I have him make up stories with the cards (lines them up all over the table), I have him pick out cards that he likes and to tell me a story about the card. I put not influence in his stories, I just let him talk, he's 2 yrs old. Just keep it fun, make it his imaginative adventure, let him be. "out of the mouths of babes" to be honest my grand son is a better tarot reader than I am, he hasn't been corrupted, by society yet.

added: Pay close attention to certain words they say, you'll be surprised and you think to yourself he saw and knew something I missed, or explained the whole cards meaning without knowing it cause they can't read a book yet. lol
 

inanna_tarot

I agree with La Force - as a child I was shown my mothers tarot decks, looked at the pretty pictures and made up stories, or just liked looking at the pretty pictures. I remember some days mum would ask me which card looked like her today and she would sometimes use that as her 'card of the day'.

And because tarot was just a normal part of life (although I knew other families didnt do it and we didnt talk about it outside of the house) it was natural for me to want my own decks.

Unfortunately that desire for more decks hasnt stopped yet - and mum's desire to buy them for me stopped a long long time ago LOL.

However, I wouldnt say I was a better reader from my experience at all. But it has made tarot my bilingual language, the language of colours and symbols. As well as remembering some awful readings I did when I was 11 with some school friends LOL.
 

Zephyros

Fascinating responses, thank you. Do you feel that in some ways it is more of a second nature to people who were raised into it rather than people who learned it at a later age? "Living" the Tarot as opposed to "doing it," rather like people who, I don't know, were raised on a beach can probably swim better, or like doctors' children tend to become doctors themselves. What do you think Tarot could give a child in its upbringing? Greater empathy, understanding, perhaps less biases as a whole?d
 

SunChariot

I don't have children,and never will at my age, but if I had had them I would definitely have taught them to read Tarot. To me, it's such an amazing life skill that not to know it would feel like being deprived to me. I've always been of the opinion that they ought to teach it in school along with all the other courses, yes even starting in elementary schools. If schools are to prepare us for life, I can't think of a more helpful life-enriching tool. I never use the History I learnt in school, but this is something that is of real pratical use.

Babs
 

vee

I think my approach to Tarot and my son is a lot like books. When I was a kid, I read books all the time because my parents read books all the time and we just had tons of books sitting around. There was never pressure to read, it was just a part of life. Well, I have tons of books sitting around and I have tons of Tarot decks sitting around! :laugh: Kiddo can do whatever he wants, but if he's interested, I'll help him out as best as I can.
 

Grizabella

I've raised two grandchildren and at first they were interested in Tarot. They had their own decks and were interested in learning to read when they were little. But now they're 17 and 19 and when they hit their teens, they just seemed to lose interest. The oldest still asks for readings from me once in a blue moon but that's it. It's been similar with other of my interests in raising my first four kids. They'd be interested in interests of mine but then when they were older, their own interests took over that were different than mine and off they'd go.

Probably at some time in their lives the girls will take up their own interest in Tarot again but that's not guaranteed. They accept it as normal in our family but as far as wanting to do it themselves, they don't seem to want to at this point.
 

La Force

I've raised two grandchildren and at first they were interested in Tarot. They had their own decks and were interested in learning to read when they were little. But now they're 17 and 19 and when they hit their teens, they just seemed to lose interest. The oldest still asks for readings from me once in a blue moon but that's it. It's been similar with other of my interests in raising my first four kids. They'd be interested in interests of mine but then when they were older, their own interests took over that were different than mine and off they'd go.

Probably at some time in their lives the girls will take up their own interest in Tarot again but that's not guaranteed. They accept it as normal in our family but as far as wanting to do it themselves, they don't seem to want to at this point.

I have had the same experience with my oldest daughter she is now 21, I have asked her if she still uses her cards, she responses with a no, she hasn't lost interest, she just doesn't want to know the what will happen or not happen, she prefers to let life or events happen on their own. My younger daughter is 20 and she still has interest with tarot, she refers to tarot as her counsellor, giving her options and views of circumstances that revolve around her. She is teaching her son, my grandson. I feel fortunate that one of my children has kept our tradition with tarot. We share our insights together, we see it as our bonding time, mother daughter. It's awesome.
 

VGimlet

Hmm, well, I can say that my sister, who was about 5 when I got my first deck, just sort of sees it as something you do, like opening the fridge. Actually I kind of feel that way about it myself, since I was really young when I started reading.

It's just kind of there - nothing woo woo about it. :p
 

bjean

I am new tarot. I practice by reading for myself and my 15 yr old daughter. I've discovered something very interesting: My daughter, being a teenager, is very elusive about her private life. But when I read for her she opens up to me by explaining what the individual cards mean to her and how they relate to her personally and what's going on in her life.
The tarot is bringing me closer to my daughter and if that's all I ever get out of it I'm a happy camper.

PS... Occasionally she'll pull a card or two on her own. I bought her her own deck and a tarot for teens book.