PRAYER

Teach Your Child to Talk to God

Recommended for ages 6+

THE PRIORITY

One of the greatest things you can do is to help your child develop a relationship with God by teaching them to pray. Prayer is how we communicate with and connect to our Heavenly Father. Nurture your child’s faith by praying together as a family and by guiding them in the practice of praying individually.

YOUR EXAMPLE

Allow your child to see and hear you pray on a regular basis. Take time to stop and give thanks in times when God blesses you or answers a prayer. Model prayer in times of difficulty or when seeking wisdom for important decisions. Pray for those in your family and others you know who are in need.

PRAYER TIPS

Use these ideas to help start prayer time with your child.

SENTENCE PRAYERS

Take turns allowing each person who is comfortable doing so to pray a very short, one sentence prayer. It can be as simple as “Please heal Uncle Paul.” “Thank you for giving Troy a new friend.” or “I’m sorry for losing my temper with everyone earlier today.”

FILL-IN-THE-BLANK PRAYERS

Use pre-written language to guide and focus prayer times such as the following starter lines:

• God, I love you because…
• Thank you, God, for…
• God, please help…
• God, I’m sorry for…

PRAYER TOOLS & IDEAS

PRAYER BOARD

Keep a dry erase board or the calendar below in a high-traffic area of your home and use it to note items the family is praying for together.

PRAYER JOURNAL

Consider purchasing a journal for your child to start recording prayers and how God answers them.

MIRROR PRAYERS

Using a dry erase marker, write a list of things to be thankful for or a list of prayer requests on your child’s bathroom mirror so he or she remembers to pause and pray after brushing teeth.

FAMILY ROUTINE

Making prayer a regular part of your family culture will help make it a normal part of your child’s life. Consider incorporating some of the following into your family routine.

MEALTIME

Briefly give thanks before you eat, then wait until everyone has finished to have a longer time of prayer together.

BEDTIME

The first person in the family to go to bed (usually the youngest) alerts everyone else that it is time for an end-of-day prayer together.

DRIVE TIME

As you start the engine, pause for a brief prayer together asking God to go with you and invite everyone to pray a sentence prayer for any concern about the upcoming activities of the day. This is a great routine to begin as you drive to school in the morning.

WALKS

Taking a walk together is the ideal time to pray. Or pause at the end to pray about what you discussed during your walk.