Orthodoxy in the Home.

I personally don\'t have kids. (the little guy in the picture is my buddies son) I didn\'t grow up with much of a Orthodox education in the home, everything I have I had to seek out. I have other friends not Orthodox who spend time with their kids every night reading to them scripture and help them with understanding it. Their church has like a kiddy bible with like pictures and softened text. Wish we had something like that. I do hope should I be blessed with kids to follow their model and read and pray with my kids.

When my son was a baby, I would sing him Church Hymns while putting him to sleep.

Like Presvytera, I sang church hymns as lullabyes. We also made a big deal out of feast days and namedays. Something special should happen in the home on each of the twelve great feasts, and namedays should get more attention than birthdays. All of this opens up opportunities to talk to our children and teach them.

I saw this today. http://iconnewmedianetwork.com/2008/05/30/sweeping-in-the-seasons/ I happen to be reading the same book. It has a lot of good ideas.

We use the stories of the Bible and of the Saints to teach our children with. Some of the best years of our family were when we would gather for evening prayers as a family. Illness came in and stole that time from us, and we haven\'t gotten it back yet. For now, my husband reads to me at night (currently he is reading \\"This Father Knows Best\\" to me), and I am learning to be taught by him. As I learn to do this, I become an example to my children to learn as well because I will say, \\"Daddy read this to me\\"... or ask him to repeat to the children a part he had read about. We will gather at the icon corner for prayers, especially if there is tension in the home that needs abating. The children have their Bibles (Picture Bibles for the younger ones) and have set times for them to read from them. We will sing the hymns of the Church... especially around Pascha... often spontaneously and with great joy. We will talk about the homily and/or the Scripture reading in church. My 13 yo son gave me a rundown of the readings today since I had to miss Liturgy today... my husband and I were both rather amazed that he got them with such detail! The older kids help keep the lampada lit. When someone tells me of a prayer need they have, I\'ll call, \\"Light the Lampada!\\" (if it\'s gone out) We tell them our \\"God stories\\". We speak often (daily ) of God, and in the present and real tense. We remind them of God\'s provision in our lives, and of what His will is for us (peace, unity and love), and how that translates into our daily choices. The boys are acolytes and we try to participate often in services. We are also very fortunate to live in an Orthodox community, so working out our faith in a real way is a daily part of living. Lest you think we\'ve got any of the parenting of children \\"down\\", I\'ll admit, we need a LOT more work!!! Slothfulness is still a constant struggle.

Sorry, I\'m just replying here because it\'s the only way I know of to subscribe to the thread. Keep it coming! Thanks. Stormimay