For those not actively churchgoing (or even those who are) - do your children say prayers?

[JoshandJamie]

We don't go to church often (mainly because we have two small boys who are a pain in the bum with sitting still for anything over 5 minutes). But I can't use them as an excuse, I've never been an very regular churchgoer. However, we decided to christen our children and now I feel as though it is my duty to raise them in a christian way.

So we've started to say bedtime prayers. To be honest, it is one of the loveliest things I've ever done - we kneel down next to the bed and I say a short prayer and then my son who is 2.8 says his own short prayer: always goes along the lines of: dear lord Jesus, thank you for keeping my family safe all through the day. Amen.

I'm hoping that when he gets a bit bigger I'll be able to tell him more about religion, but I'm really not very religious myself. Sometimes I feel a bit hypocritical, but mostly, I just want to be a good mum and raise my boys like I was raised.

So do you say prayers with your kids?

what a lovely thing to do JandJ. My two pray at Sunday School/in church and we have books of children's prayers as well as lots of nice illustrated Bible stories around, but we don't pray at bedtime and your lovely post has reminded me what a lack this is.

PS I cannot believe your two are any more fidgety than ours - or some of the other small children at our church. If all that is stopping you from going on a Sunday is the fear of being tutted at, it might be worth shopping around. Our parish church is not attached to a church school and not such a lavish building as a couple of others locally, but the small gang of families who go benefit from a super Sunday school and a lot of kind and welcoming surrogate grandmas!

That's lovely

I do occasionally pray with them before bed but not as much as I used to I admit

Sometimes before I go to bed I will check on them and make the sign of the cross on their foreheads and say a little blessing

That is so lovely joshandjamie!

I pray with our dds (aged 4 and 2) each night, we ask for blessings for them and our loved ones, say thank you for a lovely day and then each dd adds their own 'thank yous' and then finish with asking God for sweet dreams whilst we sleep. I often kneel beside their beds and pray for them last thing at night whilst they are asleep, and I say blessings over baby ds when he is nodding in my arms in the night.

I used to help out at a church service for under fives' and produced some handouts on praying/faith sharing with our children. I could e-mail them to you if you'd like to CAT me.

I pray with my dcs and the form it takes changes over time. ATM my ds wants to say it all himself and gets all upset if I even say 'Amen' at the end becaues it's his prayer!

My dd is the opposite and wants me to say a prayer for her and gets all ambarrassed about adding anything of her own!

I think it's a great thing to do for so many reasons. I don't think it really matters how you pray with them.

Nearly3 I'd love to see your stuff you've made - could you CAT me?

Yes in fact we're trying to get her round the fact that praying isnt making a wish, i.e she prays for roller skates and stuff. Ive told her to pray for people that are sick and she nows prays for the children in Africa.

Have you seen "My first bedtime bible"? On most pages there is a prayer which accompanies the bible story. The prayers are really simple and beautiful. DD loves it and them and has made up her own prayers after being inspired by the ones in there. Its very reasonable to buy as well - only £5.99

texasrose - no problem, will CAT you but not tonight - dd1 and ds are unwell - will try by the end of the week!

used to do that god bless mummy daddy, nanac, nana v, nana m, grandad, unle j, uncle d, cousin s, the dog, its used to last for ages!

dh always does, I sometimes do
i always worry about the 'please look after X' bit. (dh at least usually includes this). I start thinking, oh, what if something happens to X and they think it was because they missed praying one night ?

don't quite know what to do about it. try to stick to thanks mostly.

cat64, I would be happy to get the handouts to you, but what list is it you want to be added to? (probably very silly question, sorry )

We pray each night with our children.
We read a fab book about cildren and prayer called 'Dear God, Can You Wink?', which is now out of print but I would highly recommend it if you can find it - cant remember the author but it is published by Scripture Union. Goes through prayer - to use 'teaspoon' or 'tsp' prayers with kids - thankyou - sorry- please which we do every night and it is fab!
It is soo cool to pray as a family like this!!!

Our kids are 2, 4, 6, btw

Okay, cat, any idea how I can get them to you? (Told you I was asking a silly question, my only defense is sleep deprivation!)

It's great to hear so many others out there are doing the same. I feel very encouraged.
I'm not a regular churchgoer as well but I firmly believe in God (my parents were veyr strong Christians).
I say a morning prayer with my dd before breakfast and it goes along the line of 'thank you God for the food we eat ... please keep our family safe ... guide mummy and daddy as we bring up XXX'.
At night, my dh (who is quite a fence-sitter when it comes to believing in God) prays with her when he puts her to bed. But he likes praying with her .. maybe its his way of discovering God without any of us intruding.
At the end of the day, I feel that if I can teach my dd to trust in God and pray to him about anything and everything, I will feel safe in the knowledge that she is in his hands, iykwim.

i say prayers with my two 2 &3 when i'm not too exhausted and just want them into bed as quickly as possible. Dh never does and I only challenged him on this the other day in fact.

14 & 12 yr olds do their own I hope dd1 keeps a prayer journal dd2 is bit more of a closed book - keeps things to herself so wouldn't know if she is or not and now feel a tad bit quilty for not knowing.

cat, will CAT you tomorrow pm, in a hurry atm but tomorrow should have the evening to myself.

Okay, cat and texasrose, will CAT you, my e-mail address is an old one of dh's but I really am a worn-out mum of three (and can give you enough gruesome pg/c-section/bfeeding details to prove it!)