Articles Faith Family Faith - The way the kids end their day
| Family Faith - The way the kids end their day |
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| Saturday, 31 May 2008 14:29 | |
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The way we finish our day is just as important as the way we start. Our kids' bedtime routine is like the routines of many other kids. There are teeth to be brushed, trips to the toilet, and getting into comfy pjs. However, there are two parts of our bedtime routine with our kids that are so important for us. They are the things we rarely, if ever, skip (even though we often skip other parts of our routine). The first is a Bible story. Over the last year or so of this routine, we have used different children's Bible story books reading from start to finish. Our favourite so far would have to be The Big Picture Story Bible. These stories are short and take 3-5 minutes to read. The second thing we do is, after lights out, we pray with the kids. At this point in time our prayers are pretty predictable. I pray first and thank God for something relevant to the day we've just had. I pray for a good night's sleep. I thank God for each member of our family and thank Him that He has brought us together as a family. If there are any pressing needs, we then add them here or pray for friends and family. The kids then pray in turn, usually just thanking God for various things, and sometimes adding requests also. The kids have been praying regularly since they were about 2 years old. These two things not only provide the practical benefits of a calming, predictable bedtime routine, they also focus busy minds back on God. We end our day in prayer, just as we started our day in prayer. |
