Prayer of Thanks

While our kids are little and learning to pray we, my husband and I, take turns "helping" them say prayers. We will whisper phrases in their ear and then they will say it out loud. Ian is almost 5 years old and still requests "help" with his prayers. I am really trying to encourage him to think of his own things to say in a prayer. He has shed a few tears because he just doesn't want to say the prayer. Mostly he just doesn't know what to say. Over the last week or two when it is his time to voice the prayer, we have started taking a moment beforehand to think together of things we want to thank Heavenly Father for and a few things we would like him to bless us with so that Ian has these things in his head when he says the prayer.

Ian often lists things like soccer, the park, his knights and pirates as well as food. But he also almost always says he is thankful for "Henry who plays with me". Henry usually throws in spiderman and his football. Sophie is a little more thoughtful and adds in family, friends, and activities. Sophie often will ask for Heavenly Father to help Ian with his reading and Henry with his potty training. I love to hear them pray for and about each other.

Each time Ian is asked to pray he is getting closer and closer to "doing it on his own". He is a very sweet little guy and has always taken his time doing and learning most things. He didn't walk until he was 15 months old and didn't talk until he was over 3 years old. When he started walking, he was quickly off running. And complete sentences came out of his mouth when he finally started expressing himself with words. He just always waits to do things until he can do it well. But this experience, with him learning to pray, has been good for us as a family, especially at this time of year. It has helped us focus more on what we are grateful for and who gave us all these good things.

We do live a very blessed life. We are truly grateful for it.



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