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Becky J
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| Posted: March 30 2009 at 10:10pm | IP Logged
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I am curious if any of you who have children under 5 manage to say a family rosary with them included. I would like to get our family in the habit of doing this. My kids are almost 3 and almost 5 years old. They are very wild and noisy when my husband and I try to initiate this, so we end up giving up in frustration. I am afraid that if we spank them, hold them down, etc., to get them to calm down and be involved, this will leave them with a distaste for the Rosary. But I am also afraid that if we wait till they are older to do this (i.e., school age) the habit will be more difficult to inculcate.
Please let me know if you manage the Rosary with your little kids successfully, and how you do it.
Thanks!
Becky J
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melanie
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in the car.  Captive audience.
We say it evertime we drive anywhere, which is several days a week. I would *not* punish them at this age for not being able to sit through it. Say a decade at a time, or give them special boxes with holy cards and such to look at during that time. My older ones (and by that I mean the rowdy 9yo boy) know that if they are inappropriate during prayer times they will be excused to their rooms. Sounds like a reward, but it's not. He hates to be left out of stuff.
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happymama
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We have been doing one decade per day, Monday thru Friday.
My boys (2,4,6) sit at the table, which is set for tea-time in the afternoon, pass around a bowl of rosaries and each pick one. I also have a large poster for each mystery, and we look at the image & talk about it before we start. My 6yo has a home-made, laminated booklet with all the prayers in it. Tea time follows.
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Helen
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Becky, we've said the Rosary with little kids but I can't say it's been "successfully."  But that doesn't stop me from trying. And maybe just sticking with it is successful!
I don't expect the little ones to be able to sit through the Rosary. They usually move around. It can become quite chaotic but I think it is important to establish the routine. Be peaceful about it. None of these habits arrive overnight.
Now that I have older children who can sit still, they help to set a more religious atmosphere. We're able to tell the ones under five that they need to stay in one place and if they do not want to sit, they can go to bed. (We've been saying the Rosary in the evenings lately.) The little ones want to be in on the action. Tonight this worked. We had a peaceful rosary and the littles remained. (Something to look forward to  )
I have my three year old lead and five year olds lead. (Very cute) I have to help them. But this keeps their interest.
I say the Rosary every day. Example helps to set the routine as well. When all my children were younger and on those days in which I couldn't bear a Rosary with every one jumping around, I would say the Rosary on my own and let them do what they would. On those really rough days, it was helpful for me to lie down and say the Rosary aloud. (I remember how this helped me get through the long afternoons.)
Like HappyMama, we used to combine tea with the Rosary. I gave them the snack/tea first as a help to getting the children through the Rosary. Although, often it was suggested to me to give the children their food after as a motivation.
With all little ones, it is helpful to keep trying new things. Different languages, different pictures, light a candle, show a video. Movement also helps to finish a Rosary as Melanie noted. Walks are also a good way to say the Rosary together.
Keep us posted on your progress!
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Mary K
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| Posted: March 31 2009 at 5:46am | IP Logged
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Maybe they could have a Rosary picture to color as you say the Rosary. My little ones have enjoyed holding a small plastic statue of Mary.
As a funny aside, my 4yodd, had statues of Mary and St. Joseph. "Hi, St. Joseph, I'm Holy Mary." "Hi, Holy Mary, do you want to go for a walk?" It went on longer, but I couldn't hear since they were on a walk.
God bless,
Mary-NY
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SylviaB
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I have kids the exact same age. We do one decade at a time. Every night after bath we all snuggle in my older sons bed and my husband leads the rosary. Afterwards they pick out their bedtime stories.
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Lisbet
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Helen gave some excellent advise - of course!  I currently have 5 kids under 5 - we have been praying the family rosary each night for 10 years now. It is part of the nighttime routine - and I have found that if we pray it at a different time of day - the littles all fall asleep! LOL!
The 3,4,and 5 year old are expected to sit still and quiet - they usually look at a book or just rub my arms (a comfort thing for them) The kids under 2 can run around and play, but oftentimes they end up snuggled up quietly on someones lap.
We have switched things up from time to time, using different books, sometimes music, sometimes candles, etc... that all helps.
I agree that the sticking with it is the success part of it. I hope it goes well for you.
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hmbress
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I've been meaning to put together a post on this for quite some time, as I found a Montessori-style way of doing the rosary with children. I very well may have gotten the idea from someone here, I can't quite remember. Anyways, here is the post.
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LucyP
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We've tried this. We can say a whole rosary, with the 5yo mostly still and joining in with prayers, and leading the odd decade, and the 1yo (who is almost 2) walking about playing with her rosary. To be honest I find this so unrelaxing and unmeditative, that I have started to say a rosary on my own at other times. We are trying out the children having a rest time and I will do my rosary at that time.
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TxTrish
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I have a basket with our Rosary family rosary supplies in it. The kids either get it out or choose something from it each night when we begin.
My youngest (5) will either choose a Rosary coloring page (color the bead as we say it), a rosary coloring book, Rosary for children book to look at, Rosary Lapbook from Lapbooks for Catholics, or a book with pictures from the mysteries. I have a collection of different things and he is allowed to do any of them while we say the Rosary. Sometimes my 7 & 9 year old girls will do a page from Rosary Reflections http://rosaryreflections.com/ (we love this, any easy idea you could do yourself I suppose, but the girls LOVE this worksheet thingy).
My children are not the easy going relexed type, so having acceptable things to do while we pray is the key to success here. They are not still and pious while we are praying (they youngest 3 anyway) for the entire time, and I don't expect them to be.....
They say all the prayers with us, even the 5yob leads a decade -
I regularly add things if when I see them that engage their interest. They look forward to the time each evening and ask if we are preoccupied or out late. I have also gotten video's and DVD's over the years and used them occaisionally. We pray the rosary with Mother Angelica and the nun's sometimes. For a while this began our school day.
I am happy with this hodge podge of 'ways' we do the family rosary because WE DO IT. This was always what mattered most to me.
I love the praying in the car idea, what a sanity saver!
Oh, yeah. We have the rosary quilts too - but they are usually hanging on the kids walls.
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Jody
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Thanks for the great post Heather! I'd like to try that.
We usually try to do our Rosary at night when it is dark. With just the candles burning the littles usually snuggle up on someone's lap. (It is rather hard to play in the dark). This is a wind down time for us. The 3 and 6 year old each lead a decade (with me helping). This usually helps keep their interest.
We try to have a bedtime story afterwards then off to bed.
If a little is particularly rambunctious and will not settle down I usually banish the roudy one to a bedroom by himself. No one wants to be left out of a family function so this "punishment" really is effective for us.
Peace,
Jody
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JennGM
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Becky, We're hardly anything successful. We try various ways to keep the 5 yo's interest in the rosary. Dh's spiritual directory strongly urged us to not FORCE our children to pray, but to invite them. We use the Holy Rosary from the Holy Land by Fr. Mitch Pacwa on TV recording, use pictures in a flip chart, rosary booklet with pictures, Rosary box and 3 part pictures, have ds lead.
We try to "require" at least one decade of active participation, and the rest is silently following along, sometimes with lots of distraction, other times a little distracted. Meanwhile the 15 month old is busy, busy, busy. God smiles at it all, right?
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Nique
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We are starting up AGAIN with the Family Rosary  What I've found works with our little ones (3 year old twins) is having a basket with Jesus, Mary and Saint statues in it, for them to quietly play with.
The challenge is keeping the older kids AWAY from the basket while we pray
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onemoretracy
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melanie wrote:
in the car. Captive audience.
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We pray it in the car quite often too! It is great for me bc then I don't focus so much on them,  KWIM?
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onemoretracy
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Also, although we pray 5 decades sometimes, it usually is just 1!
During Lent we have been praying the Divine Mercy chaplet as part of our family prayer time and it has been so beautiful. It is new devotion for us and one we all love. I am so exited to get the CD that is discussed in another thread!
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MelissaClaire
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We are only up to a decade or two at night after all the kids are in PJs and ready to kneel around our bed. (kids are 7, 5, 3, and 15 mos.) Everyone but the baby is expected to kneel and we all take turns leading a Hail Mary. The baby usually walks around playing with a Rosary, but sometimes she wants to sit on my lap.
Some nights are better than others and we're trying to work up to a whole Rosary.
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cvbmom
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We really like the ideas from the Rosary Quilt.
You can find it at http://www.intercessories-fm.com/rosaryquilt.php
The book has some amazing ideas in it, especially for little ones.
God bless,
Christine
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melanie
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| Posted: April 01 2009 at 3:43pm | IP Logged
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Ha, Tracy, yes, I know what you mean. Here's a funny blog post I wrote a year or so ago about praying the rosary in the car.
http://slightlycrunchycatholic.blogspot.com/2007/08/holier-t han-thou-art.html
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melanie
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Oh my, it was almost two years ago that I wrote that! How time flies...well, you should know that, because that makes my kids quite a bit younger too..they would have been 10, 7, and 2 at the time.
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Mary G
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Have you seen how Kimberly at Pondered in my Heart helps her little ones ... and if you can't crochet, you could use bought silk roses or doilies or something else pretty.
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Family Rosary for little ones?
