So
teaching the youngling how to pray has been the most fun I’ve had doing
anything related to church. Way better than road shows.
We’ve
always prayed before dinner, so I think he’s just sort of accepted it
as a thing that we do pre-food. We were a little slower on bed-time
prayers though, only starting four or five months ago so we’ve gotten to
see he’s attitude towards it change.
At
first he was very earnest, he’d close his eyes and kneel on the floor
next to us waiting patiently to say “Amen” and smile at us, knowing he’d
made us happy.
It
wasn’t long before he realized that each prayer was 30 to 60 seconds of
time where Mommy and Daddy’s eyes were closed. He’d jump up, run around
the room, even slap us on the butt only to run back to his original
position when we got to the “In the name” part.
He’d
then say “Amen” and look at us as sweetly and innocently as any 18
month who just punched you in the butt can. He was so proud of himself
for gaming the system.
And I gotta admit; I was too.
He
calmed down for a while, but lately his prayer time shenanigans have
taken a turn to the adorable. He has three stuffed toys in his room, a
giraffe, a cow and a stegosaurus (teddy bears are for weak kids with
unimaginative parents) that he likes to play with while we read bed time
stories.
Well a few days ago, he decided that the three amigos needed to pray with us, so he’d lay them down next to us for prayer time.
Tonight,
after we all said “Amen,” he picked each animal up in turn and, shaking
them in the universal sign for “this animal is talking” said “Amen.”
Now I just need to teach him all of their different voices and he’ll be set.
