Teaching Children About Lent

Colleen Mallette shares tips for parents to help their children grow in faith during Lent.

Lent is a beautifully reflective time of year for Catholics. Our churches host missions, speakers, and Stations of the Cross. Devotionals and many programs online offer to grow our faith in preparation for Easter. There are almost too many options available now, thanks to the internet.  We can actually get bogged down trying to do all of them, and then we don’t have the proper time to sit and reflect on what we just read or heard.  

On this Ash Wednesday that kicks off the Lenten season, I encourage you to pick out a maximum of two daily Lenten devotionals or activities to add to your routine (for example, daily Mass, a Lenten Devotional book/email/podcast, or reciting the Rosary). Then add only one weekly Lenten function (such as Stations of the Cross, Adoration, Confession, or your local parish mission). These are all wonderful things to add to your routines to help you grow closer to God without overdoing it and adding stress just trying to accomplish too much.   

Including your whole family in at least one of your additional daily and weekly Lenten activities is important as well. Teaching your children the meaning of the season of repentance through prayer, giving, and fasting instills a life-long practice for them. It helps them appreciate the glorious celebration of Easter morning besides just the egg hunt.   

Lessons Children Should Learn During Lent  

• Our Church offers other activities that we can participate in besides Mass.
• God loves us so much that He sent His Son to earth so He could experience all human things, like eating, playing and even going to the bathroom — but also dying.
• Jesus loved His disciples and taught them a lot of life lessons, especially at the Last Supper.
• Jesus saves us from our sins because He arose all on His own power and waits for us in Heaven.
• By giving us Himself as the Eucharist, it’s like Jesus didn’t leave earth and that is why we like to receive Him as often as we can at Mass.
• Lenten resolutions help us grow in humility and generosity to be more like Jesus. 

How Children Can Live the Three Catholic Practices of Lent 

Prayer

Lent is meant to be a reflective, prayerful season. For children this could mean adding an extra prayer to their bedtime routine — such as a Hail Mary, Angelus or Our Father. It could include saying a decade of the Rosary as a family after dinner. Or possibly reading a Lenten daily devotional on their phones or from a booklet. Catholic Mom offers wonderful Sunday Gospel activity pages that the children can try harder to do during Lent (coloring pages, Mass worksheets, and puzzles). Our Catholic school has the eighth graders perform the Stations of the Cross, and attending that during Lent helps children witness the actions of Jesus’ Passion in a clear way besides just reading it.  

Fasting

Jesus sacrificed Himself by dying for us, so when we “give up” something we like and are tempted to have it, we should think of Jesus’ sacrifice and realize it is the least we can do to thank Him. Children should be encouraged to offer up a physical treat (such as chocolate, pizza, or some other favorite food) as well as an activity that might challenge their resolve (for example, no phones or video games on Sundays, attending an extra Mass once a week, trying to talk more nicely to their siblings). 

Almsgiving

For adults, this entails giving time, talent, or money to the Church or other charity. For children, it can also mean those things, but parents would have to tailor it to their ages. Doing their chores without getting an allowance during Lent would be a possibility, or donating a part of their allowance to the Church. Doing little acts of kindness for their younger siblings or to help Mom in the kitchen or laundry room teaches children to give of themselves. Children can also join parents in helping at a foodbank, at the parish fish fry, or with an elderly family member or neighbor.  

May your Lenten season be blessed as you prepare to celebrate the glorious Easter morning of Jesus’ Resurrection. 

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Copyright 2025 Colleen Mallette
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