This past Thanksgiving, we spent a few days with my brother and sister-in-law up in Rexburg, Idaho... and we were very impressed by their family bedtime routine. So, at the new year, we adopted a similar bedtime routine with Keyan. (Miraculous, I know. It only took us 2 1/2 years to set up a solid routine!!) There are more mundane things that we've built into the routine: tubby (bath) time, brushing teeth, etc. But the heart of our ritual has been:
Carpet Time. This is what we adopted from Ryan & Tina.
We lay down a blanket for Keyan to sit on, and we practice the Primary scripture for the month. We didn't mean to have Keyan memorize them... but so far he has. January's theme was "I am a spirit child of Heavenly Father" and the scripture was Psalms 82:6 "All of you are children of the most High." February's theme is "I came to earth as part of a family" and the scripture is from the Family Proclamation "The family is ordained of God." This month's has been a little harder for Keyan because of words like "proclamation" and "ordained" but still he loves reciting the words to us. And it's been so great, because now when we have family night, we can incorporate these scriptures into the lesson to help enlarge Keyan's understanding.
It just amazes me what prodigious sponges kids are. It reminds me of when President Thomas S. Monson quoted the scholar Dr. Glenn Doman in an address this past January, saying that the most receptive age in human life is that of two or three years old. It's too true!
Anyway, after practicing our scriptures, we take turns picking a song to sing as a family. Then we say a family prayer and take Keyan to bed. It's been a wonderful ritual. So wonderful, I tried to capture it on video last night.... but darn it.... why do kids get so silly when you turn a camera on?? :) Oh well, you get the idea :)
5 comments:
So cute! It's fun to see Keyan recite it in person! Love you :)
Have you seen how many adults turn into complete goofballs when there's a camera around. Truly, kids have no choice but to get silly when you turn a camera on. It's a genetic thing for most of humanity.
He is amazing! He really does pick things up fast. It's crazy to see how kids can memorize things better than adults, just like the quote you mentioned. I miss you guys! We'll have to get together for a dinner or something. :)
You crack me up with the "miracle" of setting a bedtime routine in 2 1/2 years. I'd say that's great. I'm pretty sure it took us longer.....
Yep, we're still trying to get it down. If these kids would just stop growing and changing.
Oh well, life's a work in progress, right?
You have such a sweet little family! I love your bedtime routine. Learning those scriptures at such a young age will have a huge impact on his life. You are such a cute mom.
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