The Insiders Scoop

So, when I started blogging on here again I decided that this blog would be used mostly to journal what the kids are doing and saying so that I'd have it all written down. I'm not one to scrapbook, so I also like to do picture posts and retell stories of our life. Very often, though, I get questions from others about the logistics of how we do things, so I thought from time to time I'd offer an insiders version of our daily life. I don't want to take up too much space on my blog for it, but I also would love for my "insiders scoop" to be able to give you new ideas for things to try in your own homes and with your own family. Know that what I'll share here won't work for everyone, but is just OUR way of doing things.=)
Four our first peek inside I thought I'd talk a little more about our Family Worship Time, and specifically our Family Prayer Time.
Children have such sweet sweet hearts. Teaching them to pray isn't hard because they love to ask for help for friends and family. Teaching them prayer structure, however is a good way to teach them that everything comes from God. There are times that we have sat for 20 minutes listening to, "Thank you God for..." Kids just LOVE to pray. I love that. Stop for a minute and soak that sweetness up!
SO, after reading a wonderful book by Elizabeth George, A Mom After God's Own Heart, I realized that while we were doing good letting our kids pray, we could do even better by giving them some structure to go by. Here are a few of my tips and below some of Elizabeth's too.

• Allow your kids to hear YOU pray. They learn by imitating. If they never hear you pray they won't know what prayer really is.
• Teach them to stop and pray when they are upset or angry.
• Teach them to pray scripture. There are LOTS of Psalms that are quick easy verses to memorize that will help them in many ways. For instance there are lots of verses about sleeping in peace that we taught Olivia when she was younger and having terrible nightmares.
• Teach them to be thankful to God for every good thing because every good thing comes from Him.
• Teach them to stop throughout the day and say short prayers for things or people that come to their mind. I love this one, because I think that it teaches kids to learn to listen to God. I know for me personally the Holy Spirit brings people to mind throughout the day for me to lift up in prayer and I want to teach my kids to be aware of that mindfulness.
• Allow your kids to pray for meals. They love that responsibility.

Elizabeth says to really help a child along in prayer by giving them prayer prompts. We've been using these in our prayer time and have really seen a difference in the direction of our kids prayers. I love them because they point everything to God, and also teach a well-rounded prayer of thankfulness as well as the ability to ask for things for themselves and others.
Prayer Prompting 101

1. Jesus, thank you for...(something specific that has happened in the day or for something they are especially thankful for that day.)
2. Jesus, please help me to...(this is something that we talk about before hand in "prayer request time." I write down the things that we need to work on as a family, then the kids think of things they'd like to ask for help with. It usually consists of, "Jesus please help me to make good choices when I play with sister." or "Please help me to have a good attitude in school tomorrow.")
3. Jesus, please help                            (This is where they are able to pray for others. Usually Baby Amelia, Nana and Pop, friends, family members who are sick, our pastor, that sort of thing, which also gets written down in our prayer request notebook.)

Let them see the results. There have been so many times where we've prayed for something as a family and seen a response from God and been able to thank God for answering our prayers with a yes or no. Make sure that all things you spend time praying about get written down so that when an answer comes you are able to thank God for listening and answering. This is a BIG deal for kids.

I'd be happy to answer any questions or respond to any thoughts, but for now that's all. I hear the pitter patter of Smittle feet coming down the stairs...