Bedtime Prayers and Using A Bedtime Routine Checklist & GIVEAWAY
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With school beginning next week, honestly I’m a little panicked at the thought of the new routine beginning. Our family’s summer seems to have passed so quickly and with the beginning of school we need not only a solid morning routine, but also a strong bedtime routine.
My husband and I established the habit of bedtime prayers with each of our children as infants and I’m so grateful that we did that. My mom prayed with me as a child each night for many years, probably until I was about 10 years old. Because of her training, I’ve always thought of prayer as the core element to bedtime routine. I may have told you before, but my kids even want Mommy and Daddy to pray over the phone with them at night when we are away.
The Ch@T prayer model is easy for me to remember since I’ve been using it for awhile and lately I’ve been modeling this prayer with my children at bedtime. I don’t ask each question associated with the model, but I do fill in the question with a statement. So it might go something like this:
Dear God, We are so thankful for who you are, the Creator of all the world. We are sorry for (fill in the blank with any issues from the day) and ask for your forgivness. Thank you for (fill in the blank with blessings from the day) Tonight we are asking for (requests for others and personal requests). We praise you for all you are doing in our lives. Thank you for (child’s name) and help (him/her) to know how much I love (him/her) and how much you love (him/her.) Amen.
While we haven’t strayed from our bedtime prayer routine, this summer we have definitely strayed from our bedtime routine otherwise. Honestly, a few times, a day at the pool was considered a bath or shower substitute. (Did I just admit that?)
In this post on bedtime tips, I mention that having a typical order of events gives children the opportunity to know what to expect and feel secure. Our bedtime schedule (before this wild and crazy summer!) has been bath, pajamas, hair, short playtime, snack, teeth, and books. However, with my hubby’s recent job change, he is getting home later from work. I think our “short playtime” is going to be eliminated from the middle of the order of events. Since my youngest two need to adjust from summer and to the new routine, I decided to make a bedtime routine checklist. I used blank lines on the checklist so you can fill in the order of your family’s bedtime routine. Click HERE or on the graphic below to open the free .PDF.
In addition to the bedtime routine checklist, Tommy Nelson has the sweetest book to help you establish a bedtime prayer routine! This little book called A Night Night Prayer features the cutest little snuggly alpaca who is learning how to quiet his voice, whisper good night to the world, and give thanks for all God has provided. The artwork in this book is adorable and I thought you’d like to see a preview:
[scribd id=228807096 key=key-73RIX9j3ibkQgHwq1XTd mode=scroll]
The bedtime bestselling favorite is sure to help your little ones enjoy getting tucked into bed and I’m excited to be giving away one copy of this sweet book! Just follow the Rafflecopter and I’ll see you tomorrow!
Rachel
Disclosure: Product provided by Publisher; all opinions are my own.
Your prayer is so beautiful! And that you have a routine for it, wow!
We jewish people have our fixed prayers at night called the Shema al ha mita (literally the Shema on the bed) Its a special prayer. Knowing that people around the world are saying prayers too before sleeping in their own language gives me a freshness so that I will pray with better perspective. Thank you
Sorry my last message went spelling wrong in a couple of words. Me and the kids like to thank God and we ask him to send angels to protect us and give us a peaceful sleep and to speak into our dreams and God our savior has been faithful in our requests!!!
I think is something my family needs to work on. I feel like we live such a crazy busy lifestyle that some things are always just a rush like bedtime. It is not how I ever dreamed I would put my children to bed! Thanks for the great post!
Our four-year-old twins love to add to our bedtime prayers. We usually go over briefly with them the people or events that we need to pray about and they take it from there. Right now, we pray fervently for our cousin Josh who is only 17. He recently had surgery to partially remove a brain tumor, which is in fact cancer. We pray every night for complete healing for Josh, or in the words of one my twins, “God, just take that bad stuff out of Josh’s head and free him forever!”
Thanks for this awesome opportunity! LOVE reading your words!
When my kids were little we said the same prayer that my Mom and Dad said with me. Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take. As my kids got older. I told them that the Lord’s prayer is the prayer that never fails, so they talk with Jesus and end with the Lord’s prayer. Now I’m saying the first prayer with my granddaughter, as does my Mom and her Mom and starting the cycle over.
My sister has a 1 yr old and a 3 yr old, I think this would be perfect for them!
We pray for others and ask for forgiveness and help. My kiddos are quiet and like to pray silently but they will sometimes tell me what they pray for.
The book looks great! I loved our bedtime routine of prayers each night when my kids were young. They too looked forward to it and never wanted to miss it! We had a couple routine favorite prayers, and then we would pray for different friends and family that needed our prayers.
Thank you for this post and the book suggestion. I am a new Christian and I’ve been learning/working on praying. I told my husband the other night that I needed to work on a night time prayer for our 2.5 year old and then I see this post. God is so great at putting things in our path at just the right time!
Looks like a super cute book! We pray for our family and friends and ask God to give us a restful night’s sleep.
We use the 5-finger method, and it’s so helpful to remember all that needs our prayer and attention. I loved your prayer model. Heart Hugs, Shelly <3
We do the same prayer outline every night because our kids are 3 & 5 and we are trying to lay the foundation for them to pray on their own. We thank God for the blessings of the day, ask for protection as we sleep and pray for those we know who need a healing and we always close with asking God to watch over the children who don’t have a home, because my 5 year old is starting to understand that some children don’t have homes and families and he likes to pray for them. Which, I love. I really love your blog. Thank you for the inspiration…and also the giveaway opportuniy 🙂 My kids would love this book
We don’t necessarily have specific words we pray. We just pray for friends and family and ask God to give us teachable spirits and thank Him for the things that He has blessed us with for that day and the things that He will bless us with in the future! 🙂
We always thank God for our family and for His protection when we pray. I also ask what else each child would like to thank God for. My 4 year old always says “Meema” (Grandma)! <3
I know all about the importance of bedtime routine and prayer. We are already pushing back bedtime to prepare for next week! Hope to win this sweet book.
We’ve had a crazy few months with my husband’s job transferring him twice in 6 months, once in state then again almost all the way across country. Sadly, with the not-so-normalness, we haven’t done bedtime prayer as much as we used to. But, when we were still in our old house, we would start with “thank you Jesus for our books, thank you Jesus for our clothes, thank you Jesus for our toys, thank you Jesus for our bed, thank you Jesus for our home, God bless…” and name off all family members and friends we could think of (-: A Night Night Prayer looks adorable!
It can get so tough to keep routines during moves, Jasmine! Prayers for you and your sweet ones.
I entered for a chance to win Night Night Prayer and it’s asking me to subscribe to your blog, pin, Facebook etc!
I receive your email almost everyday…isn’t that your blog? Am sooo confused!
Lisa
Naples, FL
yes! If you are already a subscriber, then you can just click it to say “yes” Sorry for any confusion!
Our pastor and his wife have a 10 year old little girl who is battling brain cancer and our prayer every night, morning, meal, quiet time will always have a prayer for her.
Ryan- I would love to be able to share this request with our community on Facebook. If you could email me: rachel at rachelwojo.com , then I will post this request on our Facebook page. Our peeps love to pray!