I want my kids to have a real faith, not just something they do because I tell them to. We pray before meals and at bedtime but I feel like I'm going through the motions sometimes. How do you actually teach your kids to pray genuinely and develop their own relationship with God? I don't want to mess this up.
My daughter's only one so I'm still figuring this out myself, but I think showing them that you actually pray when things are hard or scary is huge. Kids catch on when it's real versus routine.
With four kids I've found that praying about specific stuff happening in their lives makes it stick way better than generic prayers. My oldest asked to pray about his friend's family situation last week and it was genuinely moving.
This is something I've wrestled with too. I think the key is showing them you actually believe it yourself, not just going through the motions. Kids can smell fakeness from a mile away. What does your prayer life look like when they're not watching?
My daughter and I started making it a conversation instead of a performance. Like, what made you happy today? What do you want help with? Treating it less like a religious obligation and more like talking to someone who cares. That seemed to help.
We do bedtime prayers with our three, but honestly what made it click was letting them pray their own way. My youngest used to just list his favorite snacks, and I let him. Now at 8 he's actually thinking about what he's thankful for. I think kids need to own it, not just repeat what sounds good.
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I get this. We started letting our kids pick what we pray about at dinner, and suddenly it felt more real to them. They're choosing what matters instead of just going through the motions.