Family Prayer: How Can We Pray with Kids and Keep It Enjoyable?
Prayer is a wonderful and pretty essential faith element for Christians. It can help children develop their sense of personal spirituality and connection with God their heavenly father. However, praying with kids can sometimes be challenging as their attention spans are shorter, they find it difficult to grasp abstract concepts and we as adults don’t really talk about it very much … let alone try and explain it to a small person! In this post, we want to explore ideas and strategies to help encourage you to make prayer enjoyable and meaningful for kids, creating a positive and fun environment for their spiritual life and growth.
Keep It Simple and Conversational: When praying with kids, it's important to use simple language that they can understand. Keep prayers really conversational and relatable to their daily experiences. Encourage them to express their thoughts, feelings, and gratitude to make the prayer more personal and engaging.
Integrate Prayers into Daily Routines: Make prayer a regular part of your child's daily routine. Whether it's saying grace before meals, bedtime prayers, or morning prayers, incorporating prayers into daily activities helps establish a habit and reinforces the importance of prayer in their lives.
Create a Comfortable Prayer Space: You could designate a quiet and cozy space in your home where you and/or your child can go to or come together in to pray. This space can be decorated with symbols, images, or objects that hold meaning for them or your family (you could invite kids to help decorate the space!). Making the environment inviting and special helps set the tone for a peaceful and enjoyable prayer experience.
Incorporate Visual Aids and Props: Visual aids can help capture a child's attention and make prayer more interactive. Consider using picture books, prayer cards, or tactile objects that represent prayer themes. Our Family pastor Dazz said he once used a toy phone to talk to Jesus with his daughter and that helped her just to begin to understand the idea of what prayer is even at a really young age! Visual aids can serve as prompts to engage children’s senses and make the prayer experience more accessible for them.
Teach Prayer Through Songs and Rhymes: Children often respond really well to music and rhyming patterns. Introduce prayers through simple songs or rhymes that are easy to remember or sing along to. You could even incorporate hand gestures or actions that correspond to the lyrics to make it an even more fun and engaging experience.
Don’t Be Precious About It: Encourage your child to personalize prayers by having a go themselves. Help them by asking them questions about specific people and what they might say, are there events or things they are grateful for or would like to pray about? Sometimes children like to say silly things or ‘make fun’ of the process and it’s helpful if we don’t get too ‘precious’ over exactly what they’re saying but stay encouraged that they’re engaged with the idea. Help them understand that prayer is a way to communicate with God about their hopes, wishes, and concerns; encourage them to do so as often as they feel brave enough to. If we want children to value prayer themselves we’ll have to allow them to express themselves freely and in their own words, and the sooner the better!
Be a Role Model: Children learn best by observing and imitating. Try to let children see you doing your own prayer habits and practices. Show them that prayer is meaningful to you and an essential part of your life. Your level of enthusiasm and sincerity will inspire and encourage them to develop their own prayer life! If your enthusiasm for prayer is lacking (no judgements here!) then this idea could be a good incentive to find a way of praying that you enjoy.
Praying with kids can be a treasured and meaningful experience when approached with intention and creativity. By keeping prayers simple, creating a comfortable prayer space, incorporating visual aids, and personalizing prayers, we can make prayer enjoyable and engaging for children. Remember, the goal is to nurture their spiritual growth and provide them with a foundation of faith that will guide them throughout their lives. Embrace these strategies, and we hope your prayer time with your children can be a real cherished and joyous journey.
God Bless