Prayer-Time Kids
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Family on Wednesday, May 20, 2009 5:02 PM
Camilla is two-and-a-half now, and my husband and I are gradually reassessing our standards for her behavior in all kinds of situations.
Babies get away with a lot of things that older children, which is how it should be. I like babyhood because of its simple baby-has-a-need, parent-responds set-up. Toddlerhood, being the bridge between babyhood and childhood, has proved to be more complex.
(I haven’t dipped my toe into the task of disciplining older children yet, but I’m trying not to think about it before I get there. That water looks cold.)
Some standards are obvious, and easy for Bryan and me to agree on. Camilla’s not allowed to hit, for example. She’s not allowed to throw her food on the floor during dinner. She’s not allowed to draw on the walls with her crayons. You get the idea.
But on more complicated issues, we struggle.
The current one that’s challenging us is this: what should be our expectations for Camilla’s behavior during family prayer time?
Our family prayer time includes Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours. Each takes about fifteen minutes, so we’ve got half an hour of family prayer time for Camilla to sit through each day.
The current standard we use is that Camilla may play with a book or a quiet toy during prayers, but when it’s time for the intercessions she must put it down while she prays for her own list of intentions. We also include her in the opening, the closing, and in the Our Father and prayer to St. Michael that we say near the end, but we’re not too strict about her giving it her full attention during that time.
Camilla will be three in October, though, and I’m starting to think that we might need to get a little stricter with our standards.
Obviously these things vary widely from child to child, but I’m curious about what others have done with their toddlers and preschool-aged kids. In general, what behavior do you feel is reasonable to expect from little ones during family prayer time? If you’ve got more than one kid, have you varied your standards based on the personality of each one, or not?
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