All parents should make it their goal to teach their young children to pray. They say "a family that prays together, stays together." While that sounds pretty nice, here's something that's better and has Scripture backing it up:
"Praying children grow to become praying adults."
Don't believe me? Here's what Proverbs 22:6 tells us:
"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
That said, parents will do well by teaching their kids to pray. It won't be so hard to do: kids will always imitate what their parents do, take as truth what their parents teach, and keep the habits they acquire from childhood up until they grow old.
Teaching the next generation to shake the nation on their knees
To help all parents teach their kids to pray, I have here a short list of practical ideas that are easy to do and fulfilling when effective on the young ones. God bless you as you teach your kids to shake the nation on their knees!
1) Lead the prayer times at home
As mentioned above, kids will always imitate what their parents do. We must remember that everything parents do in front of their kids becomes their standard of righteousness. Parents will do well to remember that if they want their kids to acquire a habit of praying, they should model it.
Parents, especially dads, should invite the whole family to pray. This can be done by establishing family prayer times. Some great times to pray with the spouse and kids will be after waking up (especially if the household wakes up at about the same time), after work hours, before dinner, or before sleeping.
2) Let them pray at meal times
Next, parents can give their kids a prayer "internship" by letting them pray before meals. This simple act teaches kids to thank God for what He provides, and shows kids the beauty of praying to God.
Before letting kids pray before meals, however, parents should do it first. After setting the table but before starting the meal, invite everyone to pray. Teach the kids the importance of thanking God and letting Him hear our thanks through prayer.
After a while, the kids can now be assigned prayer schedules in advance. Don't worry, when they see how genuine their parents pray and how good thanking God is, they'll do it.
3) Reward their efforts to spend time in prayer
Lastly, parents can give their children some form of reward for praying. Rewards can come in the form of their own Bible (if they don't have one yet), a warm hug and a big smile, or more opportunities to pray.
Parents have to be wise and prayerful in giving some reward, however, as giving the wrong rewards might cause this method to backfire. When kids get used to receiving material rewards for praying, they might instead desire the reward, not prayer. And when the rewards stop coming, they might end up losing their drive to pray.
Keep in mind that kids are still kids. The point here is to encourage praying, not to bribe the kid to pray.
4) Be creative
Kids are very creative. They love to draw pictures, color in, make things and see things. Why not get crafting and make some hand written and hand drawn prayer cards together. You could have a 'prayer teddy' that they hold while they pray before passing it on to their sibling, or why not make a 'prayer wall' in their bedroom where they can write a prayer for their family or friends or school and stick it on a poster or their bedroom wall. Older kids might appreciate being taught how to make their own prayer journal with brightly colored pens and stickers.
Whatever you do, make sure they are learning that prayer is not a ritual; it's a joyful conversation with their loving Heavenly Father.
