Let me just start by saying that Hubby and I always bless our food. Maddy and Baby Lulu have be so accustomed to it that they stick their hands out to hold ours and say pray. Well, in an effort to teach Maddy about prayer, I taught her a child's blessing. You know, the whole . . .
"God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food. By his hands, we are fed. Thank you God for daily bread. Amen."
And since learning this prayer, she's been insistent upon saying "her prayer" every time we eat. Normally, saying the blessing is a task that has been equally divided between Hubby and myself. And the last time she made this request, he rolled his eyes at me and said, "Are we going to do this every time?" Well, I think it's just precious. And, I think it's teaching her discipline, control and gratitude. But Hubby is greatly opposed to "memorized prayer." Ok, let me rephrase, I don't think he's opposed to ALL memorized prayer. I should say that Hubby thinks we should be teaching Maddy to really pray to God on her own. And I agree --- to an extent. However, Maddy is ONLY two and a half years old. I think we expect A LOT out of her and sometimes we forget that she is so young. I would like to hope that at the age of seven, she's not still reciting the toddler blessing. I would hope by that point, we've been able to teach her how to pray and the importance of praying from your heart. We are leading by example. She still hears Mommy and Daddy say a prayer of blessing of their own.
I'm not sure what to do here - so I'm looking for some advice. What do you think? Is a memorized toddler blessing ok? Is she old enough to understand prayer and should we be teaching her to do it all on her own? How do you handle these situations? I'd love to hear what you have to say!
