This is a question I’ve been asked, so while I’ve written a long article about passing on a life of prayer, I thought it might also be handy to have a quick list of top tips to help you pray together as a family.
- Have regular times and places for prayer like grace at the table before meals and prayers while lying in bed before sleeping.
- Use events as triggers to pray such as with prayers for safety when setting out in the car or praying for emergency services when you see them.
- Use physical objects to pray such as satsuma prayer, or sweets prayer or washing hands prayer, as using our bodies helps us connect with what our spirits are doing.
- Use seasonal things to pray such as pumpkin prayers or candle prayers
- Speak your thought response to everyday events out loud as prayers: “Thank you God for making meerkats! I love them so much!”
- Make sure that when you prayer together, you really are praying together, not just getting the children to pray. I’m sure you don’t fall into this trap, but authentic prayer is easier to catch than to teach, so let’s share moments of real prayer with our children.
If you’re looking for a creative way to pray together, perhaps something a bit more hands-on than you usually do, here’s a nice list of options.