Okay, I am not resorting to cute kid stories out of having nothing to write about, but because this particular one is fresh in my mind, and I want to write about it before it fades.
We have a small, but rich history in our little family of our kids saying interesting things. This is true in most families, and I am sure that there are a ton of hilarious things I should have written down when they happened, but never did. I bet I could have had a best seller, or at least a well circulated email that would still be around when I am a great grandmother. Unfortunately I don’t find a lot of time to write things down (until now since I am making myself write in this blog every other day). My children won’t know the exact date they took their first steps, ate their first cheerios or lost their first tooth. I just don’t keep track of those things. I know…so sue me. But I also don’t think about when I did those things either…I don’t call my Mom up in the middle of the night and say “Hey Mom, what day was it that I got that first haircut?” Frighteningly enough, I think that info might actually be in my baby book. My kids don’t have baby books…so I am behind…again…sue me. I keep track of things by remembering approximations. You walked at about 10 months…this has been easy since they all walked about at about 10 months except J who walked at 8 months, and I can say that surely because he took his first walk that I counted as walking (ten steps or more) on the day before Halloween, which was two days after he turned 8 months. I am sure he will be thrilled to know the exact date, and his life will be suddenly fulfilled.
Back on topic now; Kids saying cute things…in this case…I am going to address cute things (okay, that word cute is starting to annoy me…lets say…interesting things instead) that they have said during their prayers. We have family prayer on a daily basis, and the kids have their own personal prayers, and we pray at meals. We take turns saying family prayer, basically we each get one day of the week since there are seven of us. We help the kids when they are younger, and when they feel confident we let them take the reigns so to speak. C, who is three, will not say anything but the opening and closing part by himself. He wants to be helped. K, who is four started out saying the basic same thing every time…something along the lines of…Heavenly Father, thank thee for this day, please help us be good, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. The only real change was at meals when he would add, “Bless the food” in the middle someplace. It was sweet to hear him pray. Now, however, he has added a little bit more of his own personality. The amusing thing to us is that he says the prayers very earnestly, and doesn’t know how amusing it is to us. We have to hide our smiles, and we are glad that he keeps his eyes closed during the prayer. Tonight he started out with the same old routine, but all of a sudden he said something about helping us bounce balls higher, then he prayed that no one would fall into a hole if they found one, and that his Grandpa L would let us come in the next time we go to his house. I am not sure where he got the idea that Grandpa L would not let us in, he always has in the past. As for the holes, I think that comes from Saturday when we went to pick Blueberries and I put my foot in a hole and fell down. I can’t be positive though. The ball bouncing of course is just something he enjoys. After he was done praying, our six year old yelled at him for praying that no one would fall down a hole because we might not be able to find any buried treasure if we can’t go down a hole once we find one. K has also, in the past, prayed for Jesus to make us lots of good food. This always makes me smile because I picture the Saviour coming to cook us dinner. T on the other hand (the six year old) says basically the same thing every night. Pretty close to the beginner’s prayer, but with, please help us not to hurt people and please help us not to have bad dreams added in there. Tonight he also added… “Please help us not to be rude like big stupid heads.”
Just a week or so ago, our 7 year old (almost 8) S, collided with C while playing, and C bit his own tongue and was bleeding a lot. This scared S and he was hiding behind a chair while I cleaned C up. When everything was taken care of, I told S that everything was okay, and he said that he had been praying that whole time (several minutes) and that he was able to pray for that long because he said please a lot. When S wants something badly he has been known to repeat the word please over and over during a prayer, usually until we nudge him or let him know somehow that he has said it more than enough times. S is great at praying. He makes sure that he asks some blessing on each family member each time he prays. I remember once, S prayed that J would be a good leader like S (J is his older brother by 18 months); Such humility in a child. But really, S wasn’t aware that he sounded so full of himself when he prayed that. He really wanted J to be more like him. I am not sure how J felt about him saying it though.
It gives me comfort though, that my kids are willing to talk to God like they would to anyone. I don’t mean that they talk to him with disrespect, but like He is real to them. I would much rather hear K pray that no one falls into a hole, than have him just repeat the same rote things over and over. He is learning to have conversations with Deity, and that is pretty amazing in itself.
We have a small, but rich history in our little family of our kids saying interesting things. This is true in most families, and I am sure that there are a ton of hilarious things I should have written down when they happened, but never did. I bet I could have had a best seller, or at least a well circulated email that would still be around when I am a great grandmother. Unfortunately I don’t find a lot of time to write things down (until now since I am making myself write in this blog every other day). My children won’t know the exact date they took their first steps, ate their first cheerios or lost their first tooth. I just don’t keep track of those things. I know…so sue me. But I also don’t think about when I did those things either…I don’t call my Mom up in the middle of the night and say “Hey Mom, what day was it that I got that first haircut?” Frighteningly enough, I think that info might actually be in my baby book. My kids don’t have baby books…so I am behind…again…sue me. I keep track of things by remembering approximations. You walked at about 10 months…this has been easy since they all walked about at about 10 months except J who walked at 8 months, and I can say that surely because he took his first walk that I counted as walking (ten steps or more) on the day before Halloween, which was two days after he turned 8 months. I am sure he will be thrilled to know the exact date, and his life will be suddenly fulfilled.
Back on topic now; Kids saying cute things…in this case…I am going to address cute things (okay, that word cute is starting to annoy me…lets say…interesting things instead) that they have said during their prayers. We have family prayer on a daily basis, and the kids have their own personal prayers, and we pray at meals. We take turns saying family prayer, basically we each get one day of the week since there are seven of us. We help the kids when they are younger, and when they feel confident we let them take the reigns so to speak. C, who is three, will not say anything but the opening and closing part by himself. He wants to be helped. K, who is four started out saying the basic same thing every time…something along the lines of…Heavenly Father, thank thee for this day, please help us be good, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. The only real change was at meals when he would add, “Bless the food” in the middle someplace. It was sweet to hear him pray. Now, however, he has added a little bit more of his own personality. The amusing thing to us is that he says the prayers very earnestly, and doesn’t know how amusing it is to us. We have to hide our smiles, and we are glad that he keeps his eyes closed during the prayer. Tonight he started out with the same old routine, but all of a sudden he said something about helping us bounce balls higher, then he prayed that no one would fall into a hole if they found one, and that his Grandpa L would let us come in the next time we go to his house. I am not sure where he got the idea that Grandpa L would not let us in, he always has in the past. As for the holes, I think that comes from Saturday when we went to pick Blueberries and I put my foot in a hole and fell down. I can’t be positive though. The ball bouncing of course is just something he enjoys. After he was done praying, our six year old yelled at him for praying that no one would fall down a hole because we might not be able to find any buried treasure if we can’t go down a hole once we find one. K has also, in the past, prayed for Jesus to make us lots of good food. This always makes me smile because I picture the Saviour coming to cook us dinner. T on the other hand (the six year old) says basically the same thing every night. Pretty close to the beginner’s prayer, but with, please help us not to hurt people and please help us not to have bad dreams added in there. Tonight he also added… “Please help us not to be rude like big stupid heads.”
Just a week or so ago, our 7 year old (almost 8) S, collided with C while playing, and C bit his own tongue and was bleeding a lot. This scared S and he was hiding behind a chair while I cleaned C up. When everything was taken care of, I told S that everything was okay, and he said that he had been praying that whole time (several minutes) and that he was able to pray for that long because he said please a lot. When S wants something badly he has been known to repeat the word please over and over during a prayer, usually until we nudge him or let him know somehow that he has said it more than enough times. S is great at praying. He makes sure that he asks some blessing on each family member each time he prays. I remember once, S prayed that J would be a good leader like S (J is his older brother by 18 months); Such humility in a child. But really, S wasn’t aware that he sounded so full of himself when he prayed that. He really wanted J to be more like him. I am not sure how J felt about him saying it though.
It gives me comfort though, that my kids are willing to talk to God like they would to anyone. I don’t mean that they talk to him with disrespect, but like He is real to them. I would much rather hear K pray that no one falls into a hole, than have him just repeat the same rote things over and over. He is learning to have conversations with Deity, and that is pretty amazing in itself.
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