My 4 year old develops new and always fascinating methods of prolonging bedtime.  Last night, even though we let him stay at our neighbors long after his bedtime, and even though his brother was already asleep in the same bedroom, he insisted on saying prayers with me before getting into bed.  Fine – what am I gonna say -  you can’t pray tonight because it’s too late?  No.  So, I whispered a quick prayer and then told him it was his turn.  After quite a long pause, I finally asked him if he was going to pray.  He answered, “I am praying in my mind”.  I said ok.  After another long pause, I finally said, “OK, time to get up into bed and go to sleep, buddy”.  He answered, “No, first I want to pray out of my mind!!!”.

My 4 year old is starting to get quite creative with his bedtime prayers, which is awesome.  Here are a couple of nuggets from the last week or so:

1. Thank you for our mouths so we can eat.
2. Thank you for our shoes so that our feet don’t get burned on the sidewalk.

Everyday it becomes more and more obvious to me why Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me”!

Every night after we tuck our two year old in to bed, he comes up with some excuse to come out of his room.  It’s generally something fairly believable such as “Water in cup” or “I need hug” (that one always works).  Anyway, our standard response is to get him what he needs and tell him to go back to bed.  He always whimpers back ”Cover me up” to which we respond “We will cover you up ONE more time tonight…but that’s it…so this time stay in bed”.

Well, last night, he cut out the meaningless rhetoric in the middle and simply cut to the chase.  When he came out, he said simply, “Cover me up ONE more time”!

On the nights I put my boys to bed, I pray this prayer with them:

Dear Lord Jesus,

Thank you for this day.  Thank you so much for all your many many blessings.  Thank you so much for little (4yrold) and little (2yrold) and little (babydueinaugust).  We love our kids soooo much…help them to know how much we love them, Lord.  Help them to know how much you love them, Lord.  Help them to grow and meet their milestones, Lord, on time.  I pray that they would remain happy, healthy, and strong.  And, Lord, above everything else, I pray that they would learn to love you and follow you and know you as their personal Lord and Savior.  And help them to show others around them your love.  Lord, I pray that they would have a good night’s sleep tonight.  Help us to all get the rest that our bodies need.  Help our boys to know that they are safe in their beds tonight.  Amen

At some point during the prayer my 4 yr old always reminds me to pray for his uncle and for whoever else may be on his mind that day and I do that or I pause while he does it himself.  And, my 2 year old usually bows his head and prays “Jesus….food….Amen”.

When I tuck my 4 yr old in bed, I always ask him the following three questions:

Do you know I love you?

Are you going to sleep tight tonight?

Are you going to have sweet dreams?

When I tuck my 2 yr old in, I always say, “You know you got a daddy who loves you?….and, I mean, I love you biiiig time, dude”.

I don’t know why this has become our routine.  But, it has, and I think we all like it.  I know I do.