Nurturing and Sharing the Gift of Faith with your child:
So, your child is baptised and what now? Even though you feel you baby may have no awareness of what faith is about at this early stage, now is a time for you to begin an expression of faith with your child in your home. As parents, you will gain confidence in expressing your faith and learning to share it in small ways with your child now, which will help you grow with them giving a sense that faith is ‘what we do’ in our home. Itis a normal way of life just as we teach our children to wash our hands before dinner, we teach our children that as a family we learn to pray together and give thanks for everyone and everything we have in our lives.
Some simple activities could be:
Bless your baby/child making the sign of the cross on their forehead each night as they sleep or when they are older say a prayer with them before settling down at night. Give them the gift of speaking to God in their own voice as well as eventually learning prayers that have been handed down to us, e.g., Our Father, Hail Mary and a favourite the Guardian Angel prayer.
Place a holy water font in your home where children can reach it and as they grow move it higher with them giving a sense of growing up as well as growing in faith.
When you are giving them colouring as an activity, there are many colouring pages that can be downloaded free from the web. Instead of the usual colouring images we give children, give them an image of Christ at the Nativity, growing up as a boy, Mary our Mother, Joseph, the seven days of creation Easter, Christmas, the Apostles or any of the lovely parable stories Jesus gave us.
There are many beautiful and interactive books available that share faith with children; it opens their minds to the wonders of God’s love.
Give your child the experience of a vibrant faith community, where you as a family can join other young families and get to know God’s love here on earth through sharing lifes experiences with like minded people.
See our Kids Page on this website for more resources too.
Strengthening our own faith takes courage, commitment, time, and support. St Mochta’s faith Community is with you in your endeavours. You and your family are in our prayer and be assured of God’s Blessing upon you as you give your child the precious gift of faith. They will always have a friend in Jesus, no matter where they are through their lives.