A child's prayer...

My husband and I are Catholic. Although we don't both make it to church on Sunday as much as we would like (or should), we do understand and agree on the importance of instilling religious values in our children. We plan on sending them to private school (for now), and will begin taking them to Sunday mass when they are old enough to sit still for an hour and not crawl under the pew(s).

During our weekend visit to GrandMom and Pop's house, I was tucking our little Kate into bed when she pointed to a picture on the wall, and said, "Look, it's Jesus!". On the wall over the bed hung a wood carving of Jesus. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to start the religious introduction with a simple child's prayer before bedtime. So, I proceeded to relay how we talk to Jesus through prayer and recited the simplest child's prayer I could remember...

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord, my soul to keep;
Guide and guard me through the night
and wake me with the morning's light
Amen

When I was done, I explained how important it was for us to recognize the blessings in our lives too, and to be thankful for each other. I then asked her, "Katie, do you want to say a prayer and talk to Jesus? What are you thankful for?" She looked directly at her Minnie and said, "Dear Jesus- Thank you for my presents. Amen. "

I would say it's a start...