Christian Parenting

I usually spend time reading the Bible & praying in the morning before my son wakes, after my DH leaves for work.  He is a private investigator, his work hours flucuate a lot, he typically leaves the house by 5 am and gets home around 5 pm, sometimes later, sometimes earlier.

My DH and I have talked about wanting to have a regular family devotional and prayer time, but we have not done it yet.  We've been married 3 1/2 years and from before we were even married I've told him how much I want to do this, he'll agree but then when it comes down to it, he's too tired, to busy, etc.

If you do this as a family, what has worked for you?  Do you have a set time each day, what works best, do you read the Bible & pray and/or use devotional books?  I want to have this "habit" established with DH & I now, so that as our son (and any future children) get older it is just natural and something we always do as a family.

TIA for your ideas & help!

Morning Charlene!

I follow the habits/traditions that my parents started. I make time during the day for personal devotions and we have family devotions after dinner while we are all still at the table.

Generally we read a portion of scripture, talk about it, and pray. When there were very young children it was pretty short. I don't know how my parents picked the scriptures but they usually read a paragraph or so a night working though a book in the bible. We use the readings that the lectionary provides although we sometimes branch out or use seasonal devotional books (Advent, Lent). Before our children could read, dh and I always read but now the children take turns as well. After the reading we ask each child a question about the scripture (appropriate to age and understanding) Sometimes these questions lead to full discussions. Then we pray. Because we spent most of our childhood overseas and only saw people from the States every four years of so, my mother kept a steno pad of photos, I use a rolodex style photo holder, with pictures of people who we love and are important to us. Every night we flip a picture and pray for the next person.The visual is a good reminder for the children and before we pray we stop a minute to recall any specific needs that person has. We take turns praying and an adult or older child also prays for us all and about something we learned in reading and talking about the Bible (if appropriate).

Sara

We have a Bible story book that we read a chapter from at bedtime. We've adjusted the book we use to be age-appropriate. Right now, for the 5- and 7 1/2-year-olds (although 2-year-old is there too) it's a Bible paraphrase broken up into nice chunks of "story". If read 5x/week it will take you through the Bible in a year. It's called the International Children's Devotional Bible, published by Thomas Nelson. I really like it. Better yet, the kids really look forward to it.

After reading the Bible story we pray together. When the kids are hesitant to pray themselves (they go through stages), we talk about what they are thankful for today.

I also just picked up a book called Growing with Jesus - 100 Daily Devotionals by Andy Holmes, published by Tommy Nelson. The cover says it is for ages 5-9, but I think 9 might be a little old. It is more topical and "devotional" than the Bible story book. We haven't used it yet, so I don't know how the kids will respond to it.

Another fun thing to do occasionally is a Family Night. Focus on the Family has a line of books through their Heritage Builders line. There is a book to use with preschoolers, holidays, etc.

I love Focus on the Family - I listen often!!!

When Anne was about the same age as your little guy, we started a bedtime ritual of a story-book, a bible-reading, and prayers -- and then I would turn out the lights and sing hymns (and Jacobite folk songs) until Anne, and later Rachel, fell asleep. I used several different bible-story books over time, prefering paraphrases over stories and translations over paraphrases. At the time, the American Bible Society had some beautifully illustrated collections from the Contemporary English Version. I'm fond of that version for its simplicity and readability. With a vocabulary of only 800 words, at a grade 3 reading level, it is nonetheless a fresh, direct translation from the original texts.

As the girls got a little older, we added in the Collects from Evening Prayer and I would sing the Evening-Prayer Canticles afterward. And, once they could dress themselves and I didn't need to be rushing around with diapers and socks in the morning, I started coming in to wake them up by singing the Morning-Prayer canticles.

Now that they are in their teens and pre-teens, they are asking for a little more privacy and a little more time together just as sisters, so I've backed off on these little rituals. We still have prayers together at each meal, but it's not at all the same. For special feasts, it comes close: we use the Prayer-Book Collects instead of table-grace for the various feast-days, and from the "prayers for families" for birthdays and anniversaries and such.