Three Quick Sharings on the Call to Faith Formation in Young Children

Happy Easter Season!

This week has been busy.  Busy with good things, but things that have kept me away from blogging.

Still, I wanted to honor the nudge I felt some months ago to begin this Sunday series by taking a few moments to keep it going again this week.  In doing so, I thought I would share three quick things:

1.  “Family” Photos:  I wrote before about images in our homes.  Since Easter day, I have been thinking more about this and about how including images of the Holy family and the saints in our home, much the way we do beloved family members, can provide a wonderful way for young children to communicate with and about God.

At 21 months old, our youngest is still without many understandable, spoken words.  However, one recent when his siblings and I were praying aloud, he went over to an image of the risen Jesus we placed on our Easter liturgical table and began pointing, smiling and babbling.  It seemed to be his way of joining in our prayer.  Since then, he sometimes points to the image, smiles at it, leads me over to it with him and even takes it into his hands as if he is conversing with it. 

What a simple thing it was to place this child-friendly image in our home and what richness it is bringing.

2.  Praying Together Anywhere, Anytime:  Sometimes, we get busy.  We fall out of rhythm and break routine.  We end up rushing out the door to get somewhere, feeling stressed, instead of blessed. 

When I catch us doing this, I try to help the kids and I re-frame once we are all buckled into our van and underway.  I breathe and then lead us in a brief prayer of thanksgiving for the day before explaining what the rest of the day might look like.

The other day when I did this, I explained to the kids that we might be a few minutes late to a movement class they were taking and that some of their friends would not be there because one of them was sick.  Then, I popped in a favorite audio book to keep the mood on an upswing.

To my surprise and delight, when we got to our destination, as I tried to hurry the children out of their car seats, my four-year-old daughter requested we pause, “to say a prayer” for our friend.  “God, please help (our friend) feel better and keep her family better, too…” she led us.

Beautiful!

It is so wonderful when our children model after us.  Or, rather, even lead us, in pausing to pray!

3.  Thank You:  Elisa at Tercets linked up last week with a secular-to-religious idea that I will bookmark for next Easter season!  As a faith-filled mother, teacher and writer, Elisa offers both practical activities and thoughtful reflections at her blog.  Click on over!