When we first started having Emily Lara do her goodnight prayers she was so excited and eagerly repeated each word. Then she started to realize that prayers at night meant bed and that prayers before meals were cutting into her eating time. It is a real struggle now! She has started to ask for breakfast prayers simply because she knows the milk doesn't pour until amen, KWIM? We can't get her to even cross her arms at night anymore, though. I figure she is getting an example of prayer anyhow and will rejoin us when she is ready. We tell her that even if she doesn't want to join us, we are going to pray and she has to be reverent.

So...how are you folks teaching prayer and do you have words of advice?

Marianne

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Terrified, mortified, petrified, stupefied... by you!
--"A Beautiful Mind"

Same here Marianne! We're just going with the flow for now!

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Both my boys go back and forth on how good they are with prayers. Sometimes my almost 3 year old will yell at us and REFUSE to fold his arms and bow his head. Other times he's the perfect little angle boy and doesn't move a muscle till the amen as been said, lol.

My almost 5 year old is getting better for sure. He'll give me attitude about it sometimes but he usually complies as he knows the consequeces for not (nothing bit, just mom and dad being very unhappy with him which he hates to hear). I have watched him during food prayers and he's always sneaking food during the prayer and my 3 year olds picking up on that too, lol.

Anyway, long reply short she sounds pretty normal to me!

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Shabs
Christopher 4-01
Connor 5-03
Kaitlee 9-06

Brooke and Brennon 11-99

Kinda the same for us right now. Melinda will sometimes love to repeat a prayer after me, but most of the time she won't even sit still, never mind fold her arms, during prayer time. We try not to fight it toooooo much, but always insist she says "amen" at the end before she gets food, at least for meal prayers. I've been assuming it's an age thing.

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Becky
DH Jesse
DD Melinda, Oct. 16, 2003
DS Jacob, Aug. 14, 2005
#3 due March 26, 2008

We're the same way here...my 3 yr old is very eager and willing to learn to pray on his own at bedtime when it's just me putting to bed. But if we ask him to say the prayer on the food, he totally refuses. Totally normal. My older kids, who are 9, 13, and 15 never refuse, so I keep telling myself he will grow out of it!