“Cry unto him in your house, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening.” Alma 34:21
It happens to our family every morning as I pull into a space at the school parking lot. I turn off the car, look behind me, and pick a child to help give our morning family prayer. I started doing this when my youngest boy began preschool, which is held at the same school my older children attend. This means we’ve only been doing it about three months.
I tell you this to let you know it’s never to late to begin creating good habits for your children. We’ve now been doing it long enough to become a part of our morning routine. If I forget, they’ll remind me. Between the four of us we manage to remember … most of the time.
My boys are still young enough to want help saying the prayer, but my oldest feels ready to say the prayer herself. There are times I might have to prod her along, but for the most part she has learned just what to pray about by my own example.
There are countless blessings to be had when we continually strive to say our morning prayers. It can set the tone for the entire day. Stress to your children that they might still have bad things happen, but when we pray first thing in the morning we will find ourselves better able to handle the bad times.
Saying Take enough time in each prayer to mention every one of your children. For example, my daughter just this morning was concerned about two of her friends who are disagreeing. A part of our prayer was to help her know how to deal with each of these friends.
Morning prayer can help remind your kids of things they should be doing throughout the day: listening to their teacher and showing him/her respect, finishing work before playing, and treating their friends with kindness. These gentle reminders, when done in the boundaries of prayer, will help your children realize just how important these acts are. They are far more likely to recall the right things to during the course of their day.
There are days I’ll forget, and in the rush to get to school the kids might forget as well. One these days all is not lost, for it is always okay to say a quiet prayer.
As my four-year old and I walked towards his school doors he suddenly stopped short and said, “Oh no, Mom, we forgot to say our prayers!” Brother and sister had already gone to line up and so morning family prayer was not meant to happen. I asked if he thought we should say a prayer right there and he agreed. So I crouched down next to him and we said a prayer. I then told him, “If we ever forget to say our prayers together, you can always say a quiet prayer in your heart. You just have to think it.”
The best reason for me to help my family say morning prayers is it acts as a shield. Away from our little home there are so many temptations, some even in the form of good friends, and prayer comforts every one of us as we part ways. My children know they are given some extra strength from the Lord to help make the right choices.
