Hay & Nye, writing from an educational research perspective, suggest that spirituality is innate in children. The features they identify in children's spirituality are presented by Margaret Crompton as:

• sensing a changed quality in awareness;
• sensing values, ideas about good and evil or what matters;
• sensing mystery, wonder and awe;
• sensing meaning or insight or connectedness.

This ties in closely with humanistic concepts of spirituality which embrace:

'aspirations, moral sensibility, creativity, love and friendship, response to natural and human beauty, scientific and artistic endeavour, appreciation and wonder at the natural world, intellectual achievement, physical activity, surmounting suffering and persecution, selfless love, the quest for meaning and values by which to live.'

Thus there appears to be an expression of spirituality which might be appreciated and nurtured in every child.

The spiritual and religious rights of children
The rights of children to be treated as citizens are found in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Spiritual and religious rights are explicitly mentioned and include the right to freedom from discrimination in respect of status or beliefs; the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Children can expect adults to meet responsibilities towards them to promote their physical, mental, emotional, and social development, including their spiritual needs, according to their developmental ages and understanding and the relevant cultural expression of those within their faith communities.