Breakfast with God

We are trying a new routine in the Cowger household.  For starters, we are training our kiddos to have a quiet time with God every morning.  In an effort to "train up a child," I decided that the first place to start is developing a love for God's word.  How do you do that when you have children who can't read?  Well that was where I struggled too!  After searching the web a little bit, I found one of the best ideas for my family: a breakfast basket.  At the center of my breakfast table there is a basket.  In the basket, there are prayer sticks (large Popsicle sticks with family and friends names written on them), bible study materials (kinda range by age), and about 200+ conversation starters (see link below).

Since the beginning of summer, I have been determined to get up and fix my children breakfast every day.  I really want to establish a routine of communication in the mornings before school starts.  I don't make anything fancy- just your regular pancakes, muffins, toast, waffles, etc.  The idea is not about showing off any gourme cooking skills (which I do not possess), but to set aside a time for my kids to connect with me in the morning.  This also seemed like the perfect time for them to start their day off with God and instill a passion for quiet time with their Creator.

For now, I have breakfast made and I help get the time with God started.  Ian, the 18 month old, looks at a picture prayer book and kinda just sits with us.  Mason has a cool devotion for boys ages 2-5 that I picked up several years ago.  I read the verse to him and let him look at the picture.  There is more to that devotional, but I'm not pushing too much right now.  For Gavin, we've been using his Bible and learning how to look up verses in the Bible: finding the book, the chapter, and the verse.  The boys have really enjoyed this special time.  Their favorite part is picking a prayer stick.  Whatever stick they pull out has a name on it.  That name is the person they are to pray for in the morning and through out the day.  They really get a kick out of this!!  The conversation cards are also pretty fun.  They are meant to be done at dinner time, but we've been using them in the morning as the last part of our time together.  They are really more for family and communication building so they've come at the end of our Breakfast with God time.

Don't be confused- this isn't a perfectly quiet time with very still children.  It is simply a time we are setting aside to instill a passion for spending time with The Creator.  The person who came up with the idea stated it this way, "It's not about perfection, but faithfulness."  I love that!  I'm not trying to have a perfectly quiet morning, but rather to teach faithfulness in the long haul.

** Please note that this is a compilation of SEVERAL different ideas I've found online.  I do NOT take credit for coming up with this on my own!  Just adapted it for my family and went with it :)

conversation starters - click here