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The Kitchen Table

Bedtime prayers with your kids?

15 years ago

Do you say prayers with your kids at bedtime? Do they say

the same prayer every night?

When I was little we prayed "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I awake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."

I was terrified to go to sleep (that I would die and lose my soul) and would lay in bed all night doing the "cross" sign thing (forehead, chest, both shoulders) over and over and over. (We never even went to church, I don't know where I picked that up.)

I still don't sleep well at night. No matter how tired I am, it just takes everything I have to just lie down and try to go to sleep.

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Comments (9)

grammahony
15 years ago
I said the same prayer. But later taught my girls "now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If my little feet should go astray, I pray the Lord to guide my way".
Leslie
barb_from_pa
15 years ago
Said the same one here, but for my girls had "guide me safely through the night and wake me with the morning light".
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sue_va
15 years ago
And then somewhere along the line, my kids picked this up:

Now I lay me down to sleep, a big of peanuts at my feet.
If I should die before I wake, I hope I die with a stomach ache.

Little heathens!!

Don't know how they made it to be responsible, independent grown-ups.

Sue
jannie
15 years ago
My mother taught me the Our Father and Hail Mary. I said those two prayers plus "God bless Mommy, Daddy, Bonnie, Billy, Suzy (my sibs) and Grandma." for years. Never got into the habit of prayers with my kids, sorry to say.
marilyn_c
15 years ago
I said the same prayer. Here is a poem I have remembered for many, many years.

They taught me once the childhood prayer,
Which has the childish voice declare:
"If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord, my soul to take."

And while I said it dutifully,
(The elders thought quite beautifully)
I marveled that they did not know...
That come what may, I would not go!
hounds_x_two
15 years ago
I,too, said the same prayer, but changed it for my sons.
Our version was...
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Watch me please all through the night,
And wake me when the time is right.
Mickey15
15 years ago
I said it with my daughter, but changed the words to not scare her.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
See me safely through the night,
And wake me with the morning light.

Then "God bless Mommy, Daddy, brothers and sister, Grandma's and Grandpa's, Aunts and Uncles, Cousins and playmates."
mary_c_gw
15 years ago
We were never a family to recite rote prayers - most of them are too scary for children. We simply gave thanks for the day and asked for blessings for family and for those in need.

That "Now I lay me down to sleep" is just plain scary in it's first iteration. It's a bit better with the "See me safely through the night", but even that implies that something might happen during the night.

I've never been a fan of recited prayers, and I never will be.
minnie_tx
15 years ago
We never said that famous prayer. We would go over the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer and other things And lot's of Hymns. One I tried to stay away from towards the end of prayers was "Oh Weary pilgrim Lift your heads for Joy cometh in the morning" Invariably a just ready to close his eys little boy would pop up at that one .

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