Friday 23 May 2014

Bed time!



I must say, getting the kids to bed is one of my favourite things to do. It sounds harsh, but I love having adult space on an evening to just relax. 
The journey to that can be quite tiresome though. A day of playing or working, tidying and sorting leaves me wanting to be in bed by 9 most nights! The end of our day can be very peaceful though. I thought I would share with you the joys of bedtime. Don't worry, not mine; the children's, as so many sweet things always seem to happen at bed time! 
We find the best way to calm down is reading. After baths or playing, we get the kids changed and all pile into Raph's room and all sit on his bed. We then read 3 books. We may
read Rob's multicultural accented 'The Gruffalo' or perhaps classic rhyming books like 'Hairy Maclary', but we always read three.
Once they are read we settle Raph under the blankets and then say some prayers as a family. This is a really beautiful part of the day! Don't get me wrong, some nights Rob and I just want to rush through this part as we are fed up but it is really important for us to show the children how lucky we are and to have a point in the day when we are thankful. You don't need to say prayers to have this in your life. It's just really good to have that point to be happy that you have lived another day and that we are in our own home and have such an easy life compared to some. It's just part of our wind down. Raphael is so good at trying to say his prayers, it really breaks your heart hearing him trying to say the Our Father. So cute! 
Then kisses and cuddles and after that we pop Etta into her bed, kiss her goodnight and close the door. Then Rob and I go downstairs and that is us, free for the evening! Well most anyway! There isn't usually much activity from the kids after that!

Post by Emily
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3 comments

  1. I do like your blog. Have you always found bedtime prayers "worked"? I try to sit down and pray with my son (14mo) but he has no idea what it's about and just clambers around playing and being excitable. I do get discouraged, and feel a bit that by doing this I'm going to make it *harder* to do a quiet prayer routine as he's used to doing his own thing. I do "Thank you/ Sorry/ Please" and the Our Father. I was so thrilled by this when I started it as it also gave us time to apologise to each other and be forgiven, and to pray for those we love... but now I'm not sure it's the right way.

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  2. Mhari,
    It's great that you are saying some prayers with your little one. Don't get disheartened because it seems like he is not paying attention. The more you do it every night in the same way, he will get used to it.
    With our children we make sure they are still and relaxed and then start the prayers. If your little one is too excited give them something to hold so they can concentrate and that way they will begin to listen to you. Make sure you are not saying too many. We first started with the Our Father, Guardian Angel prayer and a Saints Prayer. We then introduced a Hail Mary in May last year and now we have also added a little prayer for others needs. But it was very gradual. Start with something short so they don't get bored. Also tell them "It's prayer time" every time so they know and will begin to expect it. If you want; have them on your knee and cuddle them as you say them, or put them in bed either way just slow them down and relax them. Hope this helps.

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  3. Thank you, good ideas and I'll give it some more thought.

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