I did not grow up in Christian household. I often joke that all of my childhood church-learnin came from Little House on the Prairie. Now that my kids are getting bigger we are trying to get them to pray to God at meals and again at bedtime. How does everyone do this?
Bedtime prayers seem to be fairly easy. I started off with a cutesy rhyme but lately my son and I have opted for something less formal. We talk to each other about the day's events then we each talk to God and thank Him for the day and ask for help where we see need. With my daughter, she is only 2, I do most of the talking and she and I ask God to bless certain people in our lives. She likes to repeat the names as we go through the list.
Our meal prayer is where I need the most help. At preschool my son learned a cute little song that they sang before their meals. He is very eager to offer his song as a prayer at meal time, but is it appropriate to sing before dinner every night? I know lots of singing prayers from when I worked at a summer Girl Scout Camp but I do not know other prayers. I would love to hear anyone's ideas on this...
God Bless.. and Happy Friday!
I didn't raise my son in a Christian household either. His father was Jewish and I was Catholic, but my parents didn't follow through on raising my brother and I in the faith. Now, my husband and I are Christian(different husband) and when we say our blessing before meals we kind of wing it. Say what is in our heart after thanking the Lord for our food. That is the way my husband was raised and I see my nieces have taught their children that way also. I think it helps to take turns saying it so the same person doesn't say it every meal.
ReplyDeleteAny prayer you offer is appropriate. It's absolutely appropriate to sing before every meal. Other times that we pray are if we have something difficult coming up. We pray in the van on the way to school sometimes. My daughter is 4 and loves to pray. But, they were both at a Christian school last year where they prayed a lot! I sure will miss the fact that my son won't have that opportunity any more since he'll be in a public school. We pray when we see ambulances. We pray for people on the side of the road. We pray for our friends. There are always opportunities to pray. :) You just have to get a little creative and don't be self-conscious about it.
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