What do you think of when you hear prayers for preschoolers? Do you think of “Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here?” Or perhaps “thank you Lord for this beautiful day, for home and care and happy play.” Well, that is not what this article is about. We are talking about sharing the ancient prayers of the church with our children, regardless of their ages.
Regardless of Age?
Maria Montessori spent some time looking into the catechesis of children in her “children’s houses.” One major observations she made regarding the children’s interest in their faith stuck out to me. When she had a priest come in to talk to the older children, the younger children (2 and 3 year olds) refused to be left out. They too wanted to sit and learn from the priest, rather than go about their own works. It did not bother the children to pause their play to sit and hear about the work of God. 
This reminds me of the common attitude towards children in church today. We tend to think children should leave and go to “Sunday school” during mass or Divine Liturgy. Yet, given the opportunity, these children love to participate in the whole liturgy, singing the prayers and learning about what the priest is doing and why.
One objection (that Montessori also originally had) is that the children are too young to understand. And yet, the children were so attracted to the religious knowledge. We cannot see the work that God is doing in our children’s souls. Montessori determined that, since the children could not be persuaded away from listening to the priest, that there must be some benefit in their remaining present. I would like to add this point to Montessori’s observation of the children. We, as adults, cannot fully comprehend the great mysteries of God. Not even close! Our inability to fully understand does not prevent us from growing close to God. So why would we assume inability to fully understand is a reason to avoid teaching our children.
A Large Vocabulary
Many studies on the brain and education of children show the importance of how much language a child is exposed to. The more vocabulary a child hears in their earlier years, the better their later vocabulary is. (Not only that, but large language exposure in early life also correlates to high IQ and academic success.
One way to work on language expose is to read aloud to your children. And not just picture books. Historical textbooks, classic novels, and guides to bird watching… everything is game.
A second way to expose our children to language is to talk to them. Discuss concepts that may be beyond their years. Don’t worry that your explanation of what logic is won’t sink in for another six years. What matters is they are hearing how you talk and form sentences, and are being exposed to the sort of vocabulary that they’ll use later. This is the same reason we spend time counting with toddlers. It is not so they will fully understand math now, it is so when mathematical words come up later in life, they will be familiar. And not foreign or scary.
Familiar with Faith
We don’t want the faith to seem out of reach to our kids later in life either. So, in order to expand their faith vocabulary now, let’s teach them Byzantine prayers. I have started a series of booklets, which contain the words to common Byzantine prayers, as well as page by page explanations to go along with the prayers. So far I have made four of them, but I have plans for more already.
Byzantine Prayer Books for Kids
The Byzantine Life
Thank you for checking out this week’s article. If you have any prayers you think we should make booklets for, let us know in the comments.
Have young kids? Check out our articles on teaching the faith to toddlers, and on keeping them (somewhat) quiet in Church. Also check out our article on Homeschooling Toddlers.
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