Commemorating Good Friday With Young Kid(s)?

[acat]

What kinds of things do you do to commemorate Good Friday with your young children? Aside from attending services, that is…

In the past, I’ve been too sick to really “do” anything, but this year is different, and my son is a bit older (just turned 6), so I want to start some new traditions or ways of remembering this day.

He is supposed to have homeschool coop but I am planning to skip it so we can do something meaningful. But I don’t want to wind up just playing and schooling like a normal day, and there is no way he’d sit in silence or prayer for more than half a minute. I want him to understand the significance but not feel overwhelmed or weighed down by it, as he’s a very sensitive, anxious kid.

We will attend our church service, but it’s in the evening. We’ll also probably watch Jesus Christ Superstar. I need more ideas to work with. What do you all do? What did you do when you were a kid? When I was young, I always participated in my church’s Stations of the Cross performance, which took all day to rehearse etc., but the church I go to now has nothing like that for children or families.

 

[pensmama87]

You could do an at-home version of the Stations - many Catholic mom blogs have suggestions on how to do it.

I think this year we are going to cover up our statues and images like they do in church. It’s a small but visible reminder.

You might also say a prayer at 3pm, which is the traditional time that Jesus died on the cross.

We actually have only attempted the Good Friday service with our kids once, and it was a disaster. Ours goes from 1:30-3, which is basically naptime at our house, and it is much longer than Mass. We ended up leaving early, which I felt awful about, but the kids could not behave and were just too distracting for everyone else. They probably won’t go until they are a lot older, and will probably go with Dad while I stay home with the little ones who can still nap. C’est la vie.

Good Friday is a fasting day, and while kids aren’t obligated to fast we all eat very plainly that day as a sacrifice. We don’t do any media at all. Obviously, they’re going to still play and be little boys, but that’s my small way of trying to make things a bit more solemn than usual.

 

[Mintaka]

Kids do well with Stations or processions that are outside. It’s also good to go to Stations inside Church, although the kids may end up fidgeting a bit. Stations usually last only a half-hour, so that’s pretty easy on kids; if you just take them to church early and walk around reading the Stations for the kids, it can go even faster. They’ll also remember it pretty well.

I think most kids are pretty impressed by venerating the Cross, and by Father taking the linens off the altar.

Hot cross buns are traditional Good Friday food. (That’s why they’re so filling - to help with the fast.) That can help kids a bit, too.

Generally, most kids learn and remember a lot from getting to see or do or hold concrete things. Holy Week is good for that.