How to raise a child to be Catholic?

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My husband and I are cradle Catholics, and devoutly follow the Church. We are expecting our first child this November and we are both excited and nervous for the journey to come! Obviously we plan to raise our child to be Catholic. I just wonder if there are any good resources out there for parents or parents to be, to aid them or give suggestions when raising a Catholic child. I know the basics!! The sacraments obviously! Introducing them to Our Lord in ways that they can understand, Our Lady, the Bible, the saints, all the above. But that’s a lot! I want to teach them in a way that they fall in love with Our Lord and His Church, instead of seeing it as a rigid, “no fun” rule book to follow. I just know so many people who fell away after childhood and to have that happen to my child would break my heart. I just want to do it right!

Any resources or books that you know of??
 
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Some of these are very good… others seem a bit much. I’m not a sports fan and I have no personal desire to hoot or cheer at a team… but I don’t think that’s necessarily a sin…
 
His site deliberately goes beyond what is sinful or not, it’s about image and loving God as strongly as possible. He has articles about why he does this, it’s based on his decades of clinical experience as a Catholic psychologist. It’s not about sin, it’s further into well-being.
 
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I think too, to live your faith with steadfast conviction,and keep learning the faith .Children ,teens take notice of everything we say and do as a parent in this regard.
 
Greenfields said:
I think too, to live your faith with steadfast conviction,and keep learning the faith .Children ,teens take notice of everything we say and do as a parent in this regard.
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I agree with this. Seeing the example set by parents and how they live their faith will make more of an impression than any book or resource. Children learn what they live. If their experience of Catholicism is loving God and others then that’s how they’ll think of it. If their experience of it is some “no fun” rule book telling everyone they’re going to Hell, that’s how they’ll think of it.
 
The evidence (of falling Church attendance and belief) seems to suggest that in most societies without strong social pressure to maintain religious observance parents are not very effective at raising ‘Catholic’, ‘Anglican’, or Muslim children.

As non-believers we encouraged our children to be interested in others’ beliefs and practices and never suggested to them that they take any particular approach other than questioning and rational inquiry.

As adults they are also non-believers but certainly don’t agree with us on everything.
 
If you have good Catholic schools in your area that can be a huge ally. Bad Catholic schools are probably not going to help, though.
It seems like I have read that whether or not the father in the family practices his religion is the best predictor of the children practicing the religion.
 
Live your faith, help your kids become disciples. Allow them to ask questions, be a safe place for dialogue.
 
One more thing, have Catholic friends. Seeing faith as normal instead of us against the world
 
I disagree with considering the rule book not fun. Living a Catholic faith is all about duty. We raise soldiers to have a sense of duty. Kids are soldiers in God’s army and need a similar training.

Discuss everything. I wouldn’t wait for their questions. Rather, I would address every single situation that can arise and every possible misstep into sin that they can take.

It’s important for both of you to be experts in apologetics.
 
Lara said:
Discuss everything. I wouldn’t wait for their questions. Rather, I would address every single situation that can arise and every possible misstep into sin that they can take.
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Whoa there; that might not be advisable, for several reasons:
  1. Talk at kids too much, and they stop listening. Keeping stuff short and age-appropriate helps them listen.
  2. Kids are reallllllly good at misunderstanding things. Give them lots and lots of instruction at all times, and they will probably follow their own train of logic to some undesirable conclusions. Much better to keep it simple and then try to answer follow-up questions.
  3. Your kids are people. They are different from other people. They are going to face particular kinds of temptations according to their own personalities; also, they will be facing different temptations at age 7 than age 14. Cataloguing “every single situation that can arise” sounds not only unrealistic, but fairly useless.
You will have years and years with your children, OP. Try to be responsive to them, understand them as individuals, and encourage them in developing positive faith and character traits as opposed to playing whack-a-mole with all the sins they could commit. Foster the kind of relationship where your kids are going to want to tell you about their lives and their conundrums. Have high expectations for them, but set them up for success as well.

And I wholeheartedly agree that modelling what you want them to be is the very best tactic.
 
I have gained great parenting practices from listening to Dr. Gregory and Lisa Popchek and Dr. Ray Guarendi on EWTN!
 
Lara said:
I disagree with considering the rule book not fun. Living a Catholic faith is all about duty. We raise soldiers to have a sense of duty. Kids are soldiers in God’s army and need a similar training.
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Some kids, and some people, respond to this, but many do not.
I personally would have hated this approach.
 
I do think it is important to develop a sense of duty, and to recognize that sometimes doing the right thing isn’t the fun or easy thing. It’s key for this to happen in the context of loving relationships, though, and parents should point out the real joy that comes from a right standing with God vs. the shallow glamor of the world. Certainly, the life of a Christian is not an endless party, but neither should it be a joyless existence governed by screaming drill sergeants.
 
The best you can do is be good examples for your children.

Teach them the basics and prepare them for 1st Communion and Confirmation.

However, remember you can’t make anyone, including your own children, have faith. Faith is a gift from God.

Your job is to open the door for them, but they’ll have to decide whether or not to walk through it.
 
Well, it’s not like I never had rules to follow, but I wasn’t treated like a soldier in the military either.

Unfortunately I’ve seen Catholic families where the parents did treat the kids that way and it often resulted in the kids getting away as fast as they could. They also had little concept of God as a loving father or the Church as being about love or brotherhood because their main experience of the Catholic Church was a stern parent barking rules at them and punishing them if they dared express a contrary opinion or challenge authority.
 
Mary Ann Budnik has a really great series of books.

And Dr Ray Guarendi also has excellent Catholic parenting books.
 
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KyrieVarLee said:
My husband and I are cradle Catholics, and devoutly follow the Church. We are expecting our first child this November
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congrats! I’m in the same boat as well.

This topic gets complicated the more I think about it. My brother was active with church during his teens. He served as an altar boy for like 4-5 years. During my teens, I had a more agnostic or atheistic worldview. Now- I’m back in the church, and trying to learn as much about my faith. While my brother has left the church and turned into an agnostic. My parents separated, so that must have affected my brother I guess. So our situation might be a minority issue.

Parents need to be well catechized to teach their kids as well, especially when the kids start hitting ages 12/13. I think communication is key, and being open minded as well. And friend circles plays a huge role as well. As peer group will influence kids.
 
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