The rosary is something that’s become very dear and near to my heart. It’s the best meditation I can do. It’s so wonderful when the kids join in with me also. I let them say certain prayers each so no one gets to tired of saying them and it helps keep their attention. The 5 year old is obviously the best at the longevity and memorization of the prayers but the 3yo is the most thoughtful and the 2yo is just there at this point mostly soaking it up but saying some here and there.
When I decided to have the kids join in and make it part of our homeschooling lessons I just did the very first part of the rosary a few times with them then moved up to a decade at a time. It helps a great deal to have them be the ones to say what/who we are praying for also.
Just be lackadaisical about the whole thing though. The last thing I wanted or you want to do is turn them off of it. Prayer is such a self soothing and healing of the soul practice.
If I’m going to do the rosary for part of the schooling then we do it first. It helps them calm down from morning play and goofiness and gets them in a good frame of mind for learning.
This year we’ve decided to start doing family rosaries at night. It’s been great because it just so happen to start with Lent. We send everyone up early to get ready for bed (the hubby usually does this part while I run around quickly switching laundry, cleaning up after dinner, picking up any toys left out etc. so I can focus on the prayers). About a good half way through we have the kids lay down in their beds all tucked in so when we are finished they can just go to sleep. Like I’ve said before saying the rosary is great mediation and is such a fantastic activity to add right before bed.
Extras:
- My favorite place to purchase rosaries and things a like is this awesome Etsy shop Smallthingsgr8love (rosary’s in my background photo are from this shop) https://www.etsy.com/shop/smallthingsgr8love?ref=search_shop_redirect
- Get kid friendly rosaries, book, and toys to play with. We have a couple different kinds of teething rosaries which are great.
Till then God Bless and Enjoy
~Just Your Average Mama