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dolorsofmary
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| Posted: Sept 22 2010 at 11:34pm | IP Logged
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I"ve tried different methods but well still need help. First we do the 'fun rosary' where right after mentioning the mystery there is a micro play and my son gets to pick out whatever character he wants, its like 1 minute or less. My son is 5 yrs old and he is an only. And we have the give Mary a Rose method too. When he says a Hail Mary he gives Mary a rose or if he says an Our Father he gives Jesus a rose. We only require him to say 1 Our Father and 1 Hail Mary and 1 Glory Be and 1 Oh My Jesus. And for him to play quietly. and we are super flexible about this.
These are kinda ho hum. I had an elaborate method I was thinking of doing with core board and velcro but hmmm... I don't think it would be good.
I was thinking of how the Rosary is a weapon against the devil and my son is really really into superheros and all of that. hmmm... and this is elaborate too. I could create a jigsaw puzzle (I think you can make a jigsaw puzzle from any photo you want now adays hopefully cheaply!) of a sword and he gets 1 piece of the jigsaw puzzle after each Hail Mary to reveal the sword. But this too will get old I'm sure. He does love puzzles though but not everyday of course.
Hmmm... And I was thinking of instead of long long intentions ( mine run off 1 single sheet) we can put them in a box and have him draw them out of a hat, or check off the intentions that get answered but tehy are tough ones like certain relative coming back to the church, grandpop feeling better and recovering (he had a massive stroke and is in a nursing home, I believe he is a victim soul.) all the things my son asks are things that aren't the best for him like a new toy, etc. and Jesus often says no to his requests. So hmmm... not sure . A lot of the religion stuff seems to speak more to women and girls and Idon't wnat my son feeling that way or coming to that conclusion.
We have obtained the blue knights info and my husband and son are going to do it together. OUr homeschool group just quit that just in time for my son to be old enough for it. So it will have to be one on one. Also we are joining catholic k cub scouts but I don't have high hopes for catholic ideals of Mary and church to be taught since they allow anyone to attend and they do,they have it seems all walks of life attending so hmmm... We have our 1st den meeting next week. We'll see how it goes. I hope to be pleasantly surprised. But we'll see.
Your thoughts? I wish I could reach him more. He hates the Rosary and the Mass becuase they take too long he says. I know just do 1 decade with him many says, but I just have him do 1 Hail Mary and 1 Our Father and 1 Glory be and1 Oh My Jesus and then he can play and so I don't see the fuss really except he does but I feel that 15 minutes he can lump it. But He even groans at almost all catholic stuff. We don't do catholic stuff all day long by far, truly. I explained to him that the Rosary and Mass can be boring to us grown ups too. It takes us time and attention to get into it. And God is the ones who gives out superpowers and all thesuperheros are not real except for the saints, they are the real ones. We go to weekly adoration too but just for a few minutes. We go to sunday mass as a family as well. Well I don't know.
I don't want to spin my wheels and make a jigsaw puzzle and spend a lot ofmoney on it for nothing either.
Hmmm... I think I might have seen blank small jigsaw puzzles somewhere and maybe I can draw different symbols of war on them and he gets to play with them during the Rosary. Hmmm... IF I can find them inexpensively. The feast of Padre Pio is coming up and he always said 'give me my weapon' which he meant his Rosary.
I tell my son about his guaridan angel and I have him say just the angel of God prayer every morning and night. When I tell him about saints levitating he doesn't believe me. At bed time he wants firefly story (I made it up nothing to do with religion at all) and then a saint story every night upon his request:) And that is the one thing that he does like that is catholic. So I don't know .We did spoon saints too for a while but after 1month of that and I moved a month's worth to his file of completed crafts he did not want to do it anymore. Hmmm... I understand that keeping your kids catholic is about catching their heart. Its hard.
Especially when my dear son loves to talk and talk and talk and talk and talk adn talk and talk and talk. Literally! Tonight at bedtime we talked about hearing God's voice and that we had to be very very quiet tohear it . And so he did that and fell asleep. I hope it helped. I got up thinking about this and prayed and came up with the sword jigsaw puzzle idea and began this post.
I don't know.
Any advice please? Thank you!
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LucyP
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| Posted: Sept 23 2010 at 5:07am | IP Logged
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I have a 3 yo girl and a 6yo boy. His interest waxes and wanes but now, as he is nearing 7, he is really grasping things more and really tries to focus on Mass but he has a harder time with rosary. Our three year mostly lays on her tummy and looks at her rosary book, but both always are expected to attend and join in for the first prayers, and our 6yo has to lead one decade and join in with the Our Fathers, Glory Be, O my Jesus and the concluding prayers. I think the big thing for me is when I model reverance and engagement and speak the prayers as if I am really saying "hello Mary, please pray for me" rather than just chanting out words, it helps them connect that I am actually talking to God and Mary, not just doing something boring.
I also don't do long intentions. They offer up the rosary for one thing - usually someone's name or to say thank you for something or for unborn babies or the Pope. I don't list my intentions - because so many are too difficult for the children to grasp and process or involve fertility issues or conversion/reversion issues for family, I just say "all my intentions" or "X's intentions" and leave it at that.
I announce each decade and then will say a few words and ask the children to hold that thought in their head and heart while they say the words or listen to me say them. They have pictures to look at in their books which helps. So, for example, for the scouraging at the pillar I say "poor Jesus was so badly hurt by the soldiers, so while we pray let's think about how we can try to never hurt him with our words or deeds" or for the visitation I might talk about helping others or unborn babies. That really helps the children start to understand they need to be saying the prayers and holding a thought or image in their heart at the same time.
Does your son have a rosary with big enough beads for him to manipulate? Both ours have coloured beads so we can say "next red bead please" before each hail Mary, and they can keep track of the beads. What to do and why to do it was so obvious to me as an adult but not to them as children, so we talked about the practical issues, and then about Our Lady's words to the children at Fatima and how precious it is to obey her and to start our day by "holding Mama Mary's hands".
Truthfully, though, I think 20+ minutes of saying repetetive prayers is a lot for most children. My son vastly prefers the Divine Mercy Chaplet which is quicker! Mine sometimes do well and sometimes just look at pictures quietly. I figure if they see me doing it, something will sink in about faithfulness, obedience and they do see that a rosary changes my mood and behaviour often, and have commented on it.  One "good" decade and then allowing Mama to say her prayers in peace is good for now, and my main focus is on understanding and taking part at Mass.
If your son is very chatty, especially at bedtime, maybe you could just encourage him to pour out his heart to God in spontaneous prayers when he is tucked up in bed? God will win his heart in the way that is most right for your boy - which may not be the rosary at all, and that is fine, I think.
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dolorsofmary
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| Posted: Sept 23 2010 at 6:34am | IP Logged
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Thank you so much! Great advice! Hmmm having him there for only 1 decade so he can see how it changes our prayer and helping to focus on one thought during the rosary rather than rattling off the fruit of the mystery that I had memorized way before he was born. I love it! He does have his own Rosary, the one you described and others. But he uses them as train tracks so I have stopped giving them to him.
I am grateful for the family bed but sometimes it has downsides like if you son is really chatty and well now you have to hear him chat and chat and chat as he goes to sleep. And really being an only he wants to sleep with someonem, if he had some siblings he could be chatting with them and sleeping in the children's room but there are none. So another reason for the family bed. Ah well. SOmeday this too shall end and I will look back on it and miss it.
Thank you again!
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guitarnan
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| Posted: Sept 23 2010 at 7:26am | IP Logged
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Just popping in to encourage you to give Cub Scouts a try even if it doesn't seem Catholic. The Scouting program is great for boys! If this den doesn't do much (activities, belt loops, etc.), find another one to try. The program has some religious components (mainly for older Cubs) but it starts from day one helping boys enjoy the things they'll need to do and know later in life - fitness, life skills, working with others. Very important stuff.
My son made Eagle this summer and, although we've had to move around and change packs and troops several times, Scouting gave him an amazing amount of self-confidence and practical knowledge, not to mention friendships.
The motto for Cub Scout leaders is: Keep it simple, Make it fun, Do it outside...because that's how boys connect and learn. (Yes, I was a den leader!) Scouting is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year - a great testament to a great program.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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Lacy
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| Posted: Sept 23 2010 at 4:49pm | IP Logged
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I am constantly trying to find ways to make the faith fun for my kids, and we came up with this rosary made from pool noodles:
Directions for making a huge rosary
I also made a blog post about making edible rosaries here. I'm currently working on designing some more healthy edible rosaries, such as the one made from raisins and grape halves.
My 4 year old daughter really enjoys stringing rosaries of her own with pony beads. Maybe your son would like to do that!
I had another idea for laying out something on the floor (maybe paper plates?) and building a rosary where you would step from "bead to bead".
I've also been making rosaries where all the Hail Mary beads are blue and all the Our Father beads are white. Then I paint the Glory Be "knots" with fingernail polish. I get tell them to hold the appropriate color bead while we say one of each prayer. This seems to go over well with my 2 and 4 year old.
The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is coming up soon, and I'm going to be holding a link up party at Catholic Icing for sharing fun ideas to teach your kids the rosary, so I'll come back and share that link when everyone links up
I love seeing these ideas and can't wait for the rosary link up at Catholic Icing!
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Lacy
Catholic Icing
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Marybeth
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| Posted: Sept 24 2010 at 10:33pm | IP Logged
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We have a basket for our 3 yr. old dd which only comes out during the rosary. She has books, medals, holy cards, etc. which she can look at while we pray. In the winter with the early dark sky, the kids like to say the rosary by candlelight. It is very beautiful to do once in a while for something different/special.
I really like your jigsaw idea! 
Mb
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ekbell
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| Posted: Sept 25 2010 at 3:45pm | IP Logged
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It might be worth spending some time going over the individual prayers so that they have more meaning for him. My favorite resources for that age are the explanations by Rev. Victor Hoagland which can be found at this site Children learn to pray. They can also be found as the Catholic Classics series published by Regina Press(with fairly attractive illustrations).
I found that having a nice set of pictures (or coloring pages for those who need something to do) for each mystery plus using having a meditation for each Hail Mary works best with young children. The art provides something for the eyes to focus on and the mediation after each Hail Mary gently draws attention back to the Rosary.
Here are two of my favorite sets of Rosary Meditations for children. The Rosary for Kids (a very simple retelling of the mystery) and Children learn to Pray: Scriptural Rosary.
Online coloring pages can be found here and here. Three part Rosary Cards can be found here
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stacykay
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| Posted: Sept 25 2010 at 4:12pm | IP Logged
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Over the years, I have found that none of my boys cares to sit for long, but most especially my little boys (some up to age 9 or 10, even.) Therefore, I have only had them stay put for one decade of the rosary.
Since we are saying the Apostle's Creed on a daily basis, they all have learned it by the time they are ready for independent prayer life (in addition to our family prayers.) I rotate the mysteries, going by week, rather than day. So one week is Joyful, and on Wednesday, we would be saying the decade for the Nativity. Friday would be the finding of Jesus in the Temple. Then we conclude that one complete decade with the Hail Holy Queen. We repeat the order (Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, Glorious,) every four weeks.
It's helped.
In Christ,
Stacy in MI
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dolorsofmary
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| Posted: Sept 25 2010 at 9:40pm | IP Logged
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great great ideas! I especially love the idea of the activity basket that only comes out at rosary time . Great idea! I am going to try to prepare one for my son. I"m wondering how to do it on the cheap with ink and paper? I can give maybe 1 coloring page and see how it goes along with some already laminated kid sized posters of the mysteries that I always have. He is not into coloring too much unless it is about his superheroes and such so I don't want to have to run out and buy another ink cartridge - can you say ka-ching! I can try one and see how it goes. Thank you!
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dolorsofmary
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| Posted: Sept 25 2010 at 9:52pm | IP Logged
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i LOve the pool noodle rosary idea and i would do it in a minute if I had a different kind of kid. My kid would want to shred the pool noodle here and there there would be little bits of pool noodle everywhere. Of course we would discipline him if and when he would do it. I guess he likes the feel of it or wants to see how we will react . He touches a lot of things like all the grocery carts in a stacked row, etc. (Im like yuck! now don'tput your hands in your mouth! and I hand him a wipe) and he says 'I'm curious. I know many kids find things out by touch and taste (babies putting things in their mouth, etc.) and I breastfed him until he was like 4.5 yrs old and so he didn't put much in his mouth at all but he loves to touch! I think I would have pool noodle everywhere. But thank you! If there are any left at target the next time I go (I seriously doubt it!) I can give it a try as long it is really cheap but more than likely its a no go.
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: helping 5 yr old little boy say Rosary
