Five Easy Things Catholic Parents Can Do for Their Children

Laura Nelson shares five simple but powerful ways parents can share the faith with their children.

Raising a child in the Church is a huge responsibility that can overwhelm you and leave you feeling discouraged and anxious. I know because I felt those same feelings when my oldest child was born.   

Now my children are young adults and I work at a Catholic parish helping other parents and their children learn to love God and neighbor within the beauty of our Catholic faith. I see those same anxieties and worries in the parents I serve that I experienced myself as a young mom.   

Over the years, I’ve learned how powerful simple things can be to help carry on the Faith to our children. Here are five simple ways that you can share the Faith with your child that (hopefully) won’t stress you out. 

Pray For Them

Put your children under the protection of Mary and Joseph. Pray to their Guardian Angel to protect and guide them physically and spiritually. I wish I had realized earlier the power of prayer to keep my children faithful and to help me in my vocation as a mother. 

Pray In Front of Them

Children learn by imitation. If all of your prayers are silent and private, they can’t imitate you. Yes, you need time set aside just for you to pray with the Lord one-on-one, but praying out loud in front of them will help them know what prayer is and what it looks like. 

Pray With Them

It’s important to pray alongside your children and encourage them to pray from their heart. Teaching them the traditional prayers that are the treasures of the Church is important, but teaching them to respond to God’s love and gifts from their heart is what will teach them to go to God with their joys, sorrows, praise, and fears. Encouraging them to tell Jesus what’s in their heart helps them build that relationship of prayer. Teaching them to listen to God through His Word in Scripture is a way to encourage prayer as a conversation that involves listening and responding. 

Take Them to Mass Weekly

For some, this might be the hardest tip to follow through on. We know that we are asked by God to worship Him at least once a week on the Sabbath. So many things, though, can interfere with forming or maintaining that habit. Sports or dance activities and work obligations sometimes get in the way. Sometimes, the behavior of your children at Mass or their resistance to going keeps you from taking them regularly. But when we commit to going to Mass weekly with our children, it speaks volumes to them about what is the most important thing in our lives. There are so many ways to make the experience of attending Mass more engaging for your child. One of them is the Catholic Mom Sunday Gospel Activities which are available for FREE here at Catholic Mom. 

Don’t Just Take Them to Mass

Yes. Take them to Mass but don’t stop there. Don’t leave your spiritual life at the holy water font on your way out of church. God is with us at every moment of every day. Be with Him too. Include God in your conversations with your friends and family. Call Him to mind throughout your day and remind your children that God is always with them, loving them, and guiding them. Being aware of God’s presence in our daily lives is a form of simple prayer: a prayer of presence.  

You might have noticed that none of my tips are innovative or even creative. And you’re right. They’re not. There’s nothing new about the importance and value of prayer and worship. We just tend to forget how valuable and effective they are.   

Luckily, being a good Catholic parent has nothing to do with innovation and invention. You can be a good Catholic parent by being a good Catholic through prayer and worship which strengthen your own relationship with God. In the end, if your relationship with God is strong, your children will benefit. 

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Copyright 2024 Laura Nelson
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