Children Praying at Mealtime....

[a mere housewife]

Ben, what you said reminded me of Christ referring us to little ones as an example in how to receive the kingdom.

 

[Kevin]

14 but Jesus said, g“Let the little children hcome to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

QED

 

[SeanPatrickCornell]

I look forward to our son Ashby praying his first prayers at meal-time.

I also encourage my wife to pray at meal-times.

On a similar note, I was pleased to find my local OPC having women pray during our prayer meetings because our former Reformed Baptist church implicitly disallows it.

Interesting... at my Reformed Baptist Church, the men and the women split up after a short homily from the Psalter. Men have one prayer meeting, women have another.

Seems to solve a lot of problems. Allows the men to pray about more... "private" things in a corporate setting than they would with women present. I assume it's the same for the ladies.

 

[Jack K]

I think it is a serious responsibility that he must shoulder each and every time the family gathers for devotions.

I appreciate the commitment behind them, but those are awfully strong words that leave no room to consider the big picture or a father's understanding of his particular family's needs. For example, as I mentioned earlier, I occasionally let one of the kids pray for us before a meal instead of doing it myself. There are even rare occasions when we (gasp!) have eaten a meal together without praying at all. But do you really want to say I'm shirking a serious responsibility based only on that tidbit of information? Wouldn't it take examining more of my life with my kids and getting to know us as a family—our habits, how we operate, what sins we each struggle with—before you could say that.

Now, if you were to examine my whole life with my family you'd surely find much about my spiritual leadership that needs improvement. But pronouncements that such-and-such is what one "must" do every time in order to be a good Christian dad is part of the reason so many fathers give up altogether. I'm not sure such pronouncements are helpful, or quite fair. Give dad a break, and a little freedom to lead in the way that he sees fit.