Family Prayer Time

[Assisi]

Do you pray with your kids? How do you pray with your littlies?

I'm looking for some ideas we can try with our children in the future.

 

[BarbBlessed]

We started praying with our daughter from the very beginning. We didn't pray before giving her a bottle, but once she was old enough to start on solid foods we got in the habit of brief, sentence prayers when we'd give her a handful of cheerios or feed her cereal, fruit, etc. Just something simple like, 'Thank you Lord for the yummy cheerios.' We did the same when we put her down for a nap or to bed for the night. 'Thank you God for Joanna's comfy bed. Please help her to have a nice rest.' etc.

There were dozens of other opportunities during the day, too. It felt right and she wasn't very old when she started praying on her own. Whether she was just parroting us, or whether she understood that she was talking to God I don't know, but she developed good habits and an attitude of thanksgiving and praise at a pretty young age.

 

[-~Truth_N_Trust~-]

well, we always pray at meal times. We both pray with our daughter (2 y/o) every evening before bed. We pray thankyou to God for our children, for the day, pray for a good rest and pray that they would come to know and love God; and anything else we happen to pray at the time. I also encourage her to pray whenever she wants to; I explain to her that she can talk to God whenever she wants to and He loves to listen, and she does often pray on her own or ask to pray - usually for someone specific like DH or MIL... she also often prays for their dogs!

 

[MyaShane]

We pray at meal times and bedtimes. At dinner, we all hold hands and our girls take turns saying the prayer, and sometimes my husband will add extras. At bedtime we have a little stuffed frog that says a nighttime prayer and they each get to take turns squeezing it and we recite the prayer together. It's more to get them into a routine of praying. However, we do say more specific prayers with them when they ask (like if they're hurt or scared), that type of thing.

 

[Singin4Him]

Our little one is a little young to understand our family prayers but we still do it reguardless. My husband and I always pray over dinner and before we go to sleep, he's more involved in the before bed prayers right now because we pray over him nightly. We plan to continue as he grows and inclued his own prayers when he understands. I know for me when i was young I loved bedtime prayers, my parents would come sit with me and we would all say our prayers just before I went to sleep. I think it really gave me more sense of security too.

 

[lucypevensie]

Now that our kids are getting older, instead of the traditional "tucking in" at night we will have a quick family prayer together and hugs and they put themselves to bed. We each take a turn and pray what's on our minds. We keep it short and sweet, yet it is still meaningful.

 

[Manna]

We pray over meals and I've always prayed over her as I tuck her into a nap or down for the night. We also pray whenever we hear an emergency vehicle's siren going off. I started when she was born and it has definitely become a family must-have, she desires it as much as I do!

 

[Assisi]

Currently our family prayer is prayer before meals, and praying the rosary in the evenings. We also keep meaning to start dedicating our day to the Lord in the mornings, but lately we keep forgetting to do that together.

So what type of prayer did you introduce at what age for your children? I want to include our little ones in our evening prayer, but I think the rosary (reflecting on the life of Christ) is waaay advanced for little people. Do you think a combination of petitions, thanks giving, and praise would be appropriate for under fives? Personally I think the best introduction is probably to talk to God.

Manna, that's one that my mother started with me when I was very young! I still pray every time I hear those sirens.

 

[PoundingMetal]

At meal times we say prayers my son learned in school:

Thank you God for your care
At home and school and the clothes we wear
Each day may we be kind and true
In everything we say and do. Amen.

God made the apples
God made the tree
God made the food
And we thank him for these. Amen.

At bedtime we say the well known "Now I lay me down to sleep...."
and ask the Angels to "please watch over me and my family and give them lots of hugs and kisses"

Just a week ago, after our nightly prayers, I started saying to him, as he lays there with his eyes closed, the Lord's Prayer.

 

[-~Truth_N_Trust~-]

Currently our family prayer is prayer before meals, and praying the rosary in the evenings. We also keep meaning to start dedicating our day to the Lord in the mornings, but lately we keep forgetting to do that together.

So what type of prayer did you introduce at what age for your children? I want to include our little ones in our evening prayer, but I think the rosary (reflecting on the life of Christ) is waaay advanced for little people. Do you think a combination of petitions, thanks giving, and praise would be appropriate for under fives? Personally I think the best introduction is probably to talk to God.

Manna, that's one that my mother started with me when I was very young! I still pray every time I hear those sirens.

well, my DD is 2 1/2 now, and she can pretty much recite our 'standard' prayer... I don't know, I'm a big believer in not dumbing things down for children but rather immersing them in it... I think what you have said

a combination of petitions, thanks giving, and praise would be appropriate for under fives? Personally I think the best introduction is probably to talk to God.

sounds perfect.

 

[MommaBuckaroo]

Those are great prayers!!! We do pray at mealtimes and at bnedtime and we have done that from the beginning. We also pray throughout the day like if my son is having a bad day or if he has lost something etc

 

[Stan53]

In our house it is meal times and bed time. At meal time we take it in turns to give thanks, one person will do this meal, the next person will do next meal and so on. We have done this since Michele was this >< big. And bed time we all pray, taking it in turns although a lot of the time it becomes conversational.