I've had parents ask me in the past, "what prayers should my child know or be learning?" To answer that question, I have created an online document that you can access with that information. I refered to it in a previous post, so I'm announcing the completion of it now. :) Click on the document name "Prayers to Know by Grade" on the left.  You can also find it on the Elementary Religious Education page on this website.

It should look familiar if you have a Family Prayer Book or if you remember your own catechesis from elementary school.

Here are some tips to help your child learn his prayers:
1) Pray together at least once a day, whether it is in the morning, on the way to school, meal-time, or bedtime, make it a habit...your children will catch on quickly and remind you if you forget!
2) When learning a new prayer, if your child can read, give them a copy to read from until they know it by heart. If your child is a pre-reader or reading is difficult, just pray it aloud with them until they learn it.
3) Don't try to learn them all at once. Add a new prayer every two to three weeks.
4) Include all your children together...the younger ones will surprise you and learn all those prayers by heart before you know it!
5) Don't forget spontaneous prayer...it's a beautiful thing to listen to your child talk straight from their heart to God.
6) Don't be afraid to tell your kids that you don't know all the prayers by heart either...learn them together and make it a family affair.
7) Let the kids take turns leading prayers and when the youngest just wants to pray "Jesus Loves Me" that's okay. ;)

I hope that your prayer journey with your children is fruitful in grace for your entire family. God loves the little children and we are told by Christ that to enter into heaven we must have the faith of a child. Let us all learn not only our prayers but renew our faith in the eyes of our children.

God bless you all!