Raising Krishna Conscious Kids

Raising Krishna Conscious Kids

What a challenge, huh? Raising Krishna Conscious children has tested many. From observation of many devotee parents raising kids, I have come to see that being too extreme does not work if you want to raise balanced, Krishna Conscious children.

There is a famous saying, about tuning a musical instrument. It goes something like this: “If the string is not tight enough, it will not play. If you tighten it too much, it will snap.”

This can be analogous to many things in life, including raising children.

One nice way to raise children with Krishna, in a way they will appreciate, is to read Krishna Conscious story books with them, or even watch Krishna Conscious movies with them.


Krishna Conscious Videos

There are many Krishna Conscious videos suitable for kids. Some of these movies are actually really nice to watch, even for adults.

Little Krishna

One nice set of DVDs is the Little Krishna DVDs. It is a high-budget production made by Big Animation / Reliance, in connection with devotees at ISKCON Bangalore. It is a very well-done animation, with loveable characters (of course!). From the mischievous Krishna stealing butter with  his friends and the monkeys, to epic battle scenes with Krishna delivering justice to demons in self-defense, there are many cool scenes from the sweet to the awesome, from the fun to the funny, from the tear-jerking to the breathtaking.

Animated Ramayana – Warrior Prince

The Animated Ramayana is a classic. Many second generation devotees recall watching this movie many times, over and over again, as they grew up.

It is a $12 million dollar project. The animation style is a fusion style, consisting of 3 different schools of animation: Manga from Japan, Disney from the USA and Ravi Varma from India. The Warrior Prince is directed and conceived by Japanese master filmmaker Yugo Sako.

It is a pretty action packed movie, with many battle scenes.

Krishna Conscious Books for Children

There are many Krishna Conscious Story Books for children available. Here’s a couple for example:


Damodara – Glorified for Stealing Butter

This 31-page story book for children has lots of pictures and big text. It is the story of Damodara. Krishna’s is named Damodara for his pastimes of stealing butter and being caught by Mother Yasoda, who tied Krishna up with a rope around his belly. This is a beautiful story that shows the love between mother and son, and Krishna and his devotees.

Dhruva – the Star Devotee

This is the story of Dhruva. Dhruva is a prime example of a Vaishnava. From hearing about him, one can learn much about what it means to be a devotee of Krishna or Vishnu.

These are just some examples of fun ways to introduce your child to Krishna. Reading these stories and watching the videos can be an endearing experience.