How do I introduce the faith to my child in an age appropriate way?

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Peonies

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If you have children, how do you help them to know their faith?

My little girl is two months old and was just baptized this past Sunday. I want to do whatever I can to foster a strong faith in her and a love of God. My husband is Buddhist and is perfectly fine with her being raised Catholic, but this means that the actual teaching of the faith will fall to me. Where do I begin?

Right now, I make it a point to tell her that God loves her so much. On Mary’s birthday, we brought flowers to the little statue in our back yard. Should I already be doing more?

Any suggestions for now (while she is so little) or for when she gets a little older would be very much appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read my question.
 
If you have a Catholic bookstore anywhere nearby, there is probably a section of children’s books. We have a couple board books that just get read to our kids like any other book - board book children’s Bibles, books about Mary and the saints, etc. Your daughter is very young, so you have lots of time to research and see what appeals to you.

Once she is a bit older, and has a set bedtime, prayers can be part of her bedtime routine. You could put a guardian angel holy card by her crib. You could bless her with holy water before bed. Practice saying grace out loud at meals.

Congratulations on the birth of your daughter! <3
 
Peonies said:
Right now, I make it a point to tell her that God loves her so much. On Mary’s birthday, we brought flowers to the little statue in our back yard. Should I already be doing more?
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These are really good things to do. Make Jesus and Mary and Joseph and the saints part of your family life.

You can read her children’s books about Jesus. There are lots of these at Catholic stores, mostly showing Jesus interacting with the little children or as a baby/ child himself.

When she is old enough to learn simple prayers, you can start with the very short ones like the Angel of God and the Hail Mary and Our Father, and always hear her say prayers at night (I did them on my knees next to the bed with my parent listening). “God bless Mommy and Daddy and me…” etc.

At Christmas and Easter, make sure you do some activities that emphasize the religious aspects. When I was a preschooler, I loved helping Mom set up our little home creche “manger scene” and then putting the Baby Jesus in it on Christmas Eve when he was born. I also liked Advent calendars and some families used Jesse trees, to help count down the days to Christmas.

At Easter, be sure to emphasize Christ is Risen and that’s why we celebrate. Celebrate the Jan 6 Epiphany also and move the three Kings statues closer to the manger scene so they can give their “gifts”. At Halloween, be sure to talk about All Saints Day being the next day.

Most of all, go to church yourself and take your child…pray afterwards in front of the statues of Mary and Joseph and take your child and explain who these people are and why you are praying. Kids learn by watching what their parents do. If they see the parent making Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Mary, Joseph, visits to the church or chapel to “visit Jesus” even if just for 5 minutes, prayer, rosary, Bible reading etc part of daily life then they will take to it naturally.
 
Just that this seems to be so important to you is wonderful in itself. I think the most important way to teach your child your faith is by example. Let your little girl see you cross yourself, have a holy water font on the wall and use it coming inside and going outside. If you can, put up a crucifix in a central location and also in baby’s room, along with small statue of the Blessed Mother. Let her feel and hold your beads as you pray just a short decade. Say meal time prayers, bedtime prayers. Even babies love to be read to, read with her picture books of the saints, of Jesus and Mary. Enroll her in catechism classes when she gets to be of age, I think pre-K is first. It would also be very good to get her used to attending Mass if you can. I have two daughters and ten grandchildren. Each family take up a whole pew, from the youngest 12 months, to the oldest 15 yrs. They’ve all been attending Mass weekly since birth. Five of them attend Catholic schools. Anyway, I think you’re starting out great with your baby girl. Good job, Mom! God bless.
 
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I can imagine Mary cuddling with her child and telling him stories like “A long, long time ago, there was a man named Noah. And God asked Noah to build a very large boat…”

One mother in an adult confirmation class told me how, after we talked about different forms of prayer including the Examen, she started doing the Examen with her preschooler. Reviewing the day might include things like “Mommy had to go to work when you went to preschool, but God stayed with you all day.”

Blessings on your family.
 
Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. 😉

At this age, I think the most important thing is to simply pray together. Obviously she doesn’t know the words now, but when it’s a regular part of the daily routine, she will pick them up as she begins to talk. I still remember my oldest niece when she was probably only 2 taking her stuffed animal, having it make the sign of the cross, and then praying the Our Father with it (while she was alone and didn’t realize my brother was watching). Kids pick up on the spiritual things very naturally at a young age.

Some good Catholic story books are a great idea, too. There are lots of such books out there for kids of all ages.
 
I’d suggest going to a good Catholic bookstore if there’s one in your area. If there isn’t one available, here are a few things I suggest:

Books:
“The Weight of a Mass”
“Take It to the Queen”
Faith & Life series for catechism (Grades 1-8)
A good children’s Bible with lots of pictures
St. Joseph picture books for children by Fr. Lovasik
VisionBooks and Mary Fabyan Windeatt books

Videos:
CCC Saints & Heroes series
VeggieTales

Audio:
Cat.Chat CDs

Dumb Ox Publications has many lovely materials for children including Advent and 12th Night calendars.

Many of these you may be able to find online.
 
You can only give so much of what you have.

Practice the faith and be the example of being one. Let her be part of it. That would be much more effective that just mere words. When words are done together with actions, you are building your house on the foundation of a rock.

Explaining why you do what you are doing is a very effective way of teaching.

God bless.
 
I mean this in a good way.

Deep breath, Chill out.

She’s 2 months old and for the most part still an itty bitty stranger. You have years to convey your faith to her.

I would recommend not buying curriculum for grade schoolers. I wouldn’t even recommend videos of veggie tales.

Learning tradions, a good board book Bible…and maybe a board book of Catholic prayers is more than sufficient to get her through the next couple of years. Playmobil 123 makes a cute nativity and arc and allows for great open ended play for early toddlers. They have the little people nativity, too.

You don’t know what she will like. My oldest won’t watch TV. Nothing. She especially hates 3D animation (ie veggie tales). Others don’t sit for books. One doesn’t care for figures. Point being you have no idea who she will be and what makes her tick as a toddler, never mind a grade schooler.

The great thing is you can figure it out as you go along.

I would suggest learning for your own sake. About holidays and saints, traditions and culture. Don’t feel guilty. When you like something, share it. You know her best and you need to keep building the relationship between her and God and you and her.
 
Thank you for taking the time to reply and offer your suggestions. I am grateful to everyone who replied.
 
“The itty bitty stranger” part is hard. I think that I’ve probably asked my husband if she recognizes us yet at least a dozen times over the past two months. I am still waiting for the first time she intentionally smiles at me; that will be awesome.
 
Thank you for the congratulations, Pensmama87! That was very kind.
 
Peonies said:
“The itty bitty stranger” part is hard. I think that I’ve probably asked my husband if she recognizes us yet at least a dozen times over the past two months. I am still waiting for the first time she intentionally smiles at me; that will be awesome.
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It really is. They recognize by smell before anything, so when she turns her head to nuzzle you (and isn’t crazy hungry) it’s a sign of recognition and affection. Smiles are so great. I had a late smiler and an early smilier. The early smilier is a passionate little person–cries hard, loves hard. My late smilier is the opposite. She dosn’t show much affection but she’s highly loyal.
 
Congratulations! Just commenting because I want to see any future posts and ideas. My husband and I are both very Catholic, but just looking for ideas, if not for now, then for when our son gets a little bit bigger.

Our son, our firstborn, is four months on Sunday. 🙂 His smiles and giggles really are the best thing. And we will act like complete fools just to get him to smile! The first time you see it will be amazing. ❤️
 
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I wasn’t suggesting that she needs to buy grade school curriculum now. Gracious, you’re right, not for a baby this age!

Rather, I was suggesting that this might be an appropriate way of teaching the faith as her little one gets older.

I tend to think “big picture” so it may have come across incorrectly.
 
No worries.

In the meantime I was able to find the books have been wildly popular with not only my kids but my friends with bigger kids who passed on copies that had become so well loved their was not much left.

Big picture is great but so is little kids stuff. Our mass bags are a book from among these tiles, a blanket, a quiet doll or lovely and a oral-motor toy like tubies.

https://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Bab..._rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=Q60MT9F3WVWPXB5E5640

(They have a mass one and a Christmas one)

https://www.amazon.com/Lift-Bible-S...r=1-1&keywords=Board+book+lift+the+flap+Bible

https://www.amazon.com/God-Made-Won...8765295&sr=1-1&keywords=god+made+wonderful+me

This last one is my absolute favorite because the last page is a mirror. My baby was about four or five months old when I got it in probably close to two when she outgrew it.
 
These are lovely!

There is a Catholic mom who has a web page called www.dosmallthingswithlove.com

She has an online shop where she sells patterns for cross stitch, fabric, and paper activities for children. These include Rosary and Mass quiet books (paper and fabric patterns), cross stitch saints, angels, and Biblical characters, and seasonal activities (such as a Jesse tree).

I have purchased some of her patterns and been very favourably impressed.

Obviously the activities would be beyond OP’s baby right now, but your children might enjoy them and OP’s baby might enjoy them as well when baby is older.
 
Peonies said:
If you have children, how do you help them to know their faith?

My little girl is two months old and was just baptized this past Sunday. I want to do whatever I can to foster a strong faith in her and a love of God. My husband is Buddhist and is perfectly fine with her being raised Catholic, but this means that the actual teaching of the faith will fall to me. Where do I begin?

Right now, I make it a point to tell her that God loves her so much. On Mary’s birthday, we brought flowers to the little statue in our back yard. Should I already be doing more?

Any suggestions for now (while she is so little) or for when she gets a little older would be very much appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read my question.
Click to expand...
The Baltimore Catechism is an easy way (and I stress easy) to help a child think in, and communicate the faith, by learning easy definitions of terms and realities we use all the time in conversation.

And It’s available FREE. 😎 Here
 
steve-b said:
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Peonies:
If you have children, how do you help them to know their faith?

My little girl is two months old and was just baptized this past Sunday. I want to do whatever I can to foster a strong faith in her and a love of God. My husband is Buddhist and is perfectly fine with her being raised Catholic, but this means that the actual teaching of the faith will fall to me. Where do I begin?

Right now, I make it a point to tell her that God loves her so much. On Mary’s birthday, we brought flowers to the little statue in our back yard. Should I already be doing more?

Any suggestions for now (while she is so little) or for when she gets a little older would be very much appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read my question.
Click to expand...
The Baltimore Catechism is an easy way (and I stress easy) to help a child think in, and communicate the faith, by learning easy definitions of terms and realities we use all the time in conversation.

And It’s available FREE. 😎 Here
Click to expand...
The kid is 2 months old. She’s still atleast 5-8 years away from even the simplified BC.
 
One author I thought of that you might like is Maite Roche. I love her illustrations. She has several very simple books for toddlers.

Kids a little older can appreciate Tomie de Paola, who also has a very striking style.
 
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