To all those parents who go to a C of E and non C of E School do your children say their prayers before bed and do you say Grace before a meal.

[paranoidmother]

I consider my self to be mildly religious but I want to know whether other people do and what type of thing to do the children say for Prayers and Grace. Also what type of age are they starting at.

I don't mean this thread to be a lets point fingers at who does or doesn't. I would like some ideas of what time to start and what with.

We do go to church occasionally each month but not every day.

My DD is 3.5 and my DS 2.

Thank you

Dd goes to a c of e prep school. They sing hymns, say prayers, say grace and ring a goodbye prayer at school. We dont at home and we dont go to church other than special occasions.

I am CofE but my dc go to the local primary (non religious).

At home we have morning prayers, we sing grace before our evening meal* and we have a christian song and a prayer with each child before bed.

That's probbaly a lot of God for most people!

*"Thank you for the world so sweet"

We are Methodists and DD1 is at a Church school.

We say grace before meals - have done since before the kids were born, so they have never known any different.

Prayers before bed time are a bit sporadic - sometimes we get into the habit of saying them, but I'm not very good at routines. And that applies to me, too. Despite the fact that I am, in fact, employed by the church

We make Sunday a special day - church, family stuff, a nice meal in the evening, with a proper pudding like Grandma used to make and a candle on the table.

I suppose I count as CofE. we don't say grace before meals
I say prayers myself before bedtime but with DS1 We have a chat about reasons to be thankful and general best bits of the day when he is in bed.

In terms of how to introduce prayers with children, DD1 loves "teaspoon" prayers.

T is for thanks
S is for sorry
P is for please

So we can think of things to say thank you for (the easiest place for children to start), we can say sorry for things we've done wrong (harder to grasp until they are about 5 yo) and we can ask for things we'd like to happen. But we also have to acknowledge the fact that God is not a magician, shopping list or fairy godmother and prayer is not just a magic way of getting exactly what we want!

I have a few minutes chat with ds(4)before he goes to sleep, after his story. Sometimes we just talk about the day, sometimes we say thank you, to each other and to God, for good things and sometimes we ask for help with things we are worried about. I sometimes say sorry to ds if I have been grumpy and he will say sorry if he thinks he has done something wrong. Then we might ask God to help us start again in the morning, without the grumpiness. Sometimes we go for ages without really praying, just chatting every night. We don't say grace, but if we have a special meal we will say thank you at night.

We have a sung grace before meals, to the tune of "10 green bottles"

Thank you Father for all the things you give
Thank you Father for all we need to live
Let me share with others, so everyone will know
I want to thank you Father, everywhere I go

I bought a book of 365 graces, from a charity shop. Sometimes DD will find a different one, but the above one is a favourite!

We do do prayers at bedtime too, praying for our family and if any of our friends need prayers.

We don't do anything related to religion st home apart from reading DS the odd bible story. We sre not church-goers either.

dds at church school and we go to church most weeks. We say prayers at bed time and read bible stories and other stuff.