Lent with young kids can be a struggle.
If we make too many elaborate plans, we might not be able to keep up that energy all the way until Easter. (I've been there!).
But we don’t want to go to the opposite extreme and not do anything with the kids at all, making Lent into something I just do on my own. Lent is an important season of preparation for all members of the Body of Christ. Even if kids are young, including children in this season helps them grow closer to God and feel the full impact of the Easter season’s joy.
After different attempts over the years, last year we finally hit the sweet spot. And I can’t take the credit: The whole thing was my husband’s idea!
Here’s what we did.
A new nightly ritual
My husband suggested that we pray a decade of the Rosary with our kids every night before bed. We already do evening prayers every day, so the decade was added onto that.
I was a little nervous when my husband suggested it. Would we be able to stick to praying a decade of the Rosary every single day of Lent? Would we even be able to make it through one day of this new ritual without devolving into total chaos? Our four kids under 10 weren’t exactly great at being quiet and peaceful!
But I said yes at giving it a shot. And it turned out to be the best Lent we ever had.
A shocking twist
My husband had the idea to bring all the kids to snuggle in our bed while we prayed our nightly decade. And he let them each take turns leading the Hail Marys.
Somehow, our kids immediately took to the idea and absolutely loved this addition to the bedtime routine. Nobody could’ve been more surprised than I was!
They loved getting extra time to snuggle with Mom and Dad.
They loved listing their prayer intentions (usually they liked to pray for every baby and pregnant lady they could think of!)
They loved getting a turn to lead the Rosary. Even our two-year-old would take her turn, sometimes forgetting if she was supposed to start with “Hail Mary, full of grace…” or “Holy Mary, Mother of God…”
Here is the wildest part: The kids loved it so much that they asked if we could keep doing it after Lent ended. You could’ve knocked me over with a feather! What a change from the days when they were younger and used to complain about praying with me.
If you’re scrambling for an idea of what to do with your kids this Lent, a nightly decade of the Rosary might be just the thing. Maybe you can even swing a full Rosary every day, if you’re more organized than I am. I appreciated that we could do this anywhere, at any time ... even when we were traveling! I didn't have to keep track of a devotional book or special items.
This simple daily prayer ended up being the best thing we’ve done for Lent with our kids. We plan to do it again. Maybe this year we’ll manage a full Rosary every day … pray for us!
