Teaching Kids to Pray

This morning, as I was checking my email and facebook and emailing my husband about Easter plans quickly before I headed to Target...

Elijah & Josephine were playing with the dishes, at my feet, on the coffee table. They had nearly all the cups set out, and Elijah was "filling" them with the drill from the tool set. Then all of a sudden, Josephine is folding her hands and starts telling Elijah, "Priye! Priye!" ("Priye" is Creole for "Pray".)

So when he was done filling, he puts the drill down and folds his hands, and starts mumbling. I have no idea what he was saying - it wasn't English or Creole - just mumbling, but he was definitely praying - he even bowed his head! Then I hear Josephine say, "Dear God," and then also started mumbling. So I chimed in, "Thank you for Jesus." Josephine and Elijah then also included, "Thank you for Jesus," multiple times in the middle of their their mumbling. Once or twice they also both stopped and said, "Shhhh!", but finally they both stop and Josephine says, "Amen." And it gets repeated a few times as they continue playing with the dishes on the table.

Then Josephine starts putting the dishes back in the tub where we store them, and says, "All done, Mommy!" And this is repeated a few times by both Elijah and Josephine as they finish putting the dishes back in the tub. About then I was done with what I needed to do online, so I asked them if they were all done, they say, "Wi", and we go get our shoes on and head out to Target. Soooo cute!!!

They're learning so fast! At lunch, I usually say a slow prayer and have them repeat it phrase-by-phrase, and it usually consists of something like, "Dear God... Thank you for this food... Thank you for my family... Thank you for _____ (depends on the day - sometimes it's 'Please help me to share')... but most of all... Thank you for Jesus... Amen." At dinner, sometimes we do this with all five of us, or Jock, Kaylen, or I will say a prayer so they also learn what a normal from-the-heart prayer is like too. They usually are the first to sit down at the table, so as soon as I sit down, even before I'm ready to pray, they're folding their hands and asking, "Priye?" Sometimes they do this at naptime and bedtime too. I hope it sticks!

**Update 3/25: This morning they have the tractors & cars all lined up on the coffee table instead of the play dishes, and they're praying over them too. They also asked to pray at breakfast this morning, which we usually don't do (but should!) because we're in a rush to get Kaylen out the door and I'm also usually still half asleep. My kids are awesome!