Little acts of faith with our little ones
As parents of young children, my husband, Brad, and I have gotten to see firsthand how small acts, done out of great love, can help to build a foundation of faith for our children. Our two-year-old son, in particular, has already begun to latch onto these small acts and reflect them back to us. We see this throughout his day. Be it asking to listen to “Jesus music” or reminding us to pray before meals, the small acts of faith that we share with him are becoming part of his daily life.
Others are starting to become witness to his connection to the faith as well. On one occasion, Brad and I were out for the evening when our babysitter called unexpectedly. As any parent would, I answered, worried that something was wrong. When I picked up the phone, our sitter asked me, “What is the song you sing before bedtime? He keeps asking for the prayer song,” referring to our toddler who wanted to keep his nightly routine intact.
I let out a sigh of relief that nothing was wrong and then laughed a bit to myself over the reason for her call. I explained that we sing the Salve Regina to him before bedtime every night and finished up the call. This may seem like an unconventional lullaby, but we’ve stuck with it because singing the “prayer song” has been an easy swap that has left an impact on our son. Anytime he hears the Salve Regina now, he lights up and this warms our hearts.
It can feel daunting, though, to think about how to share the faith with our children. We made promises at their baptisms accepting the responsibility of teaching them about the faith and how to keep God’s commandments, and we want to, but how we do that can feel overwhelming at times. It can also be tough not to get caught up in the idea that we should be doing more or doing something better.
I know I have fallen into the trap of comparing myself to others online and sit down at the end of the day feeling like I should have done more. I want to encourage you, though, that if you take the approach of doing small things consistently, and with great love, the impact will be felt and seen among your children. It will not always be easy, but it will be worth it.
It is also important to note that we aren’t doing anything overly complicated. We are living our lives out in very typical ways, but involving children along the way. For our son, it has been easy to capitalize on this lately with him in a “I want to help!” phase. From laundry to caring for his baby sister, he is right there alongside us learning and soaking it all in.
Sometimes this makes simple acts like loading the washer take longer, but we welcome our son’s involvement because we know that the more we do with him the more invested he becomes in these daily activities. In the same way, when we pray with our children and involve them in these faith activities, they become invested in them as well. Simple acts of faith like praying before meals, reading Christian books and attending Mass every week are helping him build habits and forming his foundation of faith.
I’d love to say that we pray a whole rosary as a family or that we never have meltdowns at Mass, but that’s not the case. What I can say though is that we have a son who knows the name of our Lord and points at images of Christ and says, “That’s Jesus!” We do small things, but we do them daily. These are likely things that many of us are already doing regularly, so why not involve our children? This is not to say that we take on a token activity of prayer. This is not to just make our children or us feel good. We are called to actually pray with our children and to do so well, especially when it is hard.
Just as we actually do the laundry with our son, we show him the value of prayer and the faith by authentically praying with him. It might only be one Our Father or one Hail Mary, but the prayers and the people that he says he wants to pray for are very real regardless of how many words he stumbles on or forgets.
As much as I hope our son will still want to help with laundry when he is a teenager, I know that likely won’t be the case. In the years to come, teaching him about the faith will get harder, and tough questions will come up. I rest easy, though, knowing that we are working now to help him have a strong foundation so that when things are more challenging or confusing for him, he knows that the love of our Lord is unwavering.
In the meantime, we will keep building upon the small habits we’ve already established, always with great love, and do our best to keep the Lord at the center of our home, so our children can continue to form lives of faith founded on God’s graces and love rather than the shifting sands of popular society.