Prayer With Little Ones

Previously posted December 29, 2016 on a private blog.

Recently, I found myself lamenting the fact that I couldn't seem to get my kids interested in prayer. We have our daily prayer at meals and a quick story from either Scripture or a children's bible and prayer at bedtime. However, it's not very consistent. My husband and I take turns with bedtime duty and it just seems that we never really gather as a whole family. I hear stories of those families that seem to have it all together. You know the ones I'm talking about – they seem to pray the Rosary everyday as a family, their kids seem perfectly behaved in church, and they are all serving as a family in their parish and everyone looks up to them. Meanwhile, I can't remember the last time we all gathered for a family rosary or prayer of any kind other than grace before meals, my youngest is trying out his latest acrobatic moves in the pew while the other two fight over who gets to sit where, and serving in church...together...as a family? Right! Not happening. At least, not this week.

Our family has been through a lot over the past few years and I feel like I have not been able to instill my faith with my youngest in the same way that I did with my first, and let's face it, we all know how things go for the middle child. With my first, we attended Bible Study Fellowship for most of her preschool years. She was being fed God's Word weekly and I had time for crafts and teaching, you name it. By the time my second and especially my third child came along, life was much more hectic.

I decided one day to start an experiment. I was noticing that my afternoons were the time that I struggled most, as most moms probably know. Everyone is coming home tired and cranky, homework needs to be done and even if it's summer vacation, it all just goes downhill around 4:00pm. So, I began praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3:00pm everyday. At first I did it alone, but over time I started inviting my family members to join me. At first, no one was interested. I invited others and went into my room to pray quietly and I waited.

After about two weeks of this, I was wrapping up one day when my 4-year-old son came bursting into the room and asked if he had missed prayer time. I told him I was finished, but we could start again. He grabbed his rosary and climbed up next to me. To my amazement, he made it through the entire thing!! Keep in mind, this kid has the energy of five kids....five very active kids!

So began our daily prayer time.

To be honest, he is all over the place. He is usually on his back, feet in the air, winding the rosary through his toes, which makes me cringe, but somehow I believe is pleasing to Jesus and still honors Mary. After all, she had a Son, too. She gets it, I'm sure. He will sometimes whisper and sometimes yell the prayers. He is usually doing summersaults across the bed or building a tent of pillows to hide within. That said, he has learned the prayers. He knows the devotions that I attach to them and it has opened up a discussion point between us on the basics of salvation and living our faith in Christ.

For a long time, he would somehow know everyday at 3:00pm that it was prayer time. Even if I forgot, he would come right at 3:00pm and ask to pray with me. I marveled at watching God work in him. Over time, he has lost some interest and I have to be really creative to keep it up. I have discovered that he has a fierce competitive streak so if I nonchalantly walk by and say that I'll get to prayer time first, IT.IS.ON. I actually have to think about my placement in the room because if he thinks I'll beat him there, he won't budge.

Other days, he is so into whatever he is doing, that I just sit next to him and start praying out loud. He may complain at first, but after a decade or so, I notice his voice joining me.

I say all of this to encourage others not get discouraged in teaching your faith to your children (or grandchildren). There are times that my kids show absolutely no interest in listening to me talk about God, and then all of a sudden, a window of opportunity comes along. Sometimes it is a simple craft project at Sunday School or just a beautiful day, but God is speaking to my kids, too. I just have to try to be faithful to follow the inspiration of the moment.