This post is part of a series of posts talking about the importance of routine in devotional time with your family. To see the first post, click here.

The Alarm Goes Off

It’s 5:30 a.m. when your phone alarm goes off. You roll over and hit snooze. Nine minutes later, here it comes again. Again, the snooze. Three minutes later, you hear that voice, “Good morning, Mommy!” And so it begins . . .

This may or may not be your experience, but all of us have some sort of routine we follow in the morning. Think about yours. How does it go with your kids? Maybe it looks like this:

• Child wakes up.
• Goes to the bathroom.
• Washes hands and face.
• Brushes teeth.
• Reads a book, plays with toys, or watches TV while you make breakfast.
• Sits down to the table to eat.
• Gets dressed and starts the day.

The A.M. Devotional

How and when do you spend time in the Word and teaching your children in the morning? Is it apparent to your children that this is an important part of your life? Is it something that you consistently do and reinforce with your kids? Do you include your children during this morning time?

Below you will find some ideas to begin including devotional time with your children in the morning. These are not set-in-stone ways that you must follow, just ideas. Things for you to do as a family, together.

Idea: Start the morning off with a prayer!

Do you wake your children up, or do they wake you up? Either way, when you first see each other in the morning, take some time to pause, and say a prayer together to start your day. Here is an example of a great prayer to start your day with that Dr. Luther wrote in his Small Catechism. It asks for just the things the Lord has commanded us to pray for in the Lord’s Prayer.

Idea: Read a story from the Bible while your children are eating.

What better time to have your children focus on God’s Word than while you are all together as a family early in the morning. Find a great children’s story Bible that includes questions for you to ask your children after you have read the story, questions that cause them to reflect on what they have just heard.

Idea: Follow an order of prayer from a hymnal.

(Warning: This idea will probably show up on every post in this series. Just like routine is important for children, repetition can be just as important!)

As a family, go through an order of prayer from the hymnal. See this post for examples. Don’t worry if your children are “too young” to understand what is going on, or are squirmy the entire time you do it. This practice will accomplish several things:

1. It shows your children that faith is not just a Sunday event for your family.
2. By following these orders of prayer, your children will hear things daily, like the Creed or the Lord’s Prayer. This will give them something to participate in when they go to Divine Service on Sundays!
3. It gives you a framework to include Scripture readings and prayer.

So what do you think? Do you like these ideas? What are your routines in the morning for your children’s devotional life? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!