Whole-Person Parenting:
A Conversation with Dr.
Inge Schmidt, CS, PhD

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM MAY VIEW EDUCATION AS THE ACT OF INSTILLING KNOWLEDGE, OR PERHAPS BUILDING AND MOLDING TALENTS, BUT ACCORDING TO YALE PHD, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PRACTITIONER, AND PRINCIPIA MOM OF THREE DR. INGE SCHMIDT, CS, PRINCIPIA’S WHOLE-PERSON CONCEPT FLIPS THAT VIEW ON ITS HEAD.

 “To me, this concept of whole-person education is really about magnifying the innate spirituality in each of our kids,” says Schimdt.

“By starting from the whole person, we’re starting with our children’s innate spiritual identity. We’re not just tapping into their talents as people; we’re tapping into their individual expression of God.”

The conviction that each of us is a full expression of God’s infinite nature may run counter to some educational models, but it’s a concept that dates back to the Old Testament prophet Job: “There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding” (Job 32:8).

“That individual expression of God is robust—it’s big and it’s all-encompassing,” adds Schmidt, “and it includes the entire spectrum [of qualities and attributes] of God.”

In the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy expands on this idea. “Mind [God] is not necessarily dependent upon educational processes. It possesses of itself all beauty and poetry, and the power of expressing them” (p. 89:18- 20).

Schmidt also stipulates that if each of us possesses God-given talents, then our truest purpose is the glorification of God. “The idea of God-given gifts, that’s fairly universal,” she says. Indeed, it’s a belief embedded in Christianity, from the words of the apostle Paul: “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit . . . But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal” (I Cor., 12: 4,7).

“I think Principians are united in this concept that we’re here to serve God, to glorify God. I don’t think you come to Principia if you’re all about the glory of man. Yes, you want your kid to succeed, but God needs to be central in that picture— regardless of what you call God and how you pray to God. I believe that’s a shared value.”

Dr. Schmidt goes on to point out that adopting a God-centric view of our children and of our roles as parents has compound benefits. To see our children as more than material beings—as the infinite expressions of God’s character—is to both empower them and relieve the pressure many of us feel as parents.

“As a parent, I believe that the things they love and the things they’re good at, those are in their heart as part of their God-given individuality,” says Schmidt. “That’s part of their spiritual identity—their unique expression of their relationship with God.”

As a parent of three children ranging in age from Acorn to Middle School, Schmidt has enjoyed a front-row seat to the fruition of this approach. “As they get older, they discover their own sense of identity,” she says. “So, they have to figure out their relationship with God for themselves, whatever that may look like. My job as a parent is to be a witness. I can trust that their relationship to God—to good—is unchanging, and I can trust that their constant, active, dynamic relationship with God will carry them through.”

Schmidt continues, “That’s where the challenge is. I have to trust God as their divine Parent, and trust the strength of that relationship . . . I’m not the intermediary. Their wholeness doesn’t come through me. It all comes through that relationship to God.”