Lent Ideas for Kids

That title sounds like I have all these suggestions to share. HA HA HA

Actually, I was dorking around the internet looking for things for ME to do and I found this. That mom is going straight to heaven, people. Am I crazy to think the CHEUNGS could do something like that? Maybe a little bit crazy. Especially since the mom in the Cheung household is not known for her prayerful discipline. BLARGH.

Anyway. Here are the things I've decided I am going to do during Lent: 

1. Attend a Lent small group at my church. I wasn't planning to do this for a number of reasons, chief among them: I AM BAD AT SMALL GROUPS. I mean, unless the small group is REALLY SMALL, like, you know, TWO PEOPLE, maybe THREE, I'm totally the type to clam up and listen and stay utterly convinced that I have nothing of value to add to the group and no amount of cajoling or encouraging or "your grade is going to be docked if you don't participate in class" can really get me to move past this. At this point (thirty-two!) this is just the way it is. However! A friend of mine says she will be there and framed it as, "getting out of the house". And I am so down with getting out of the house. Wahoo! Also down with telling people I am attending a Lenten small group as it will give me the appearance that I am actually doing something for Lent. 

2. I have written down the Stations of the Cross times/days at the church 2 blocks away from me. Whether or not I will actually GO is still up for debate, but at least I have the information, right? 

3. Some sort of sacrifice I have yet to determine. The year I decided I would pray for others once a day was my best Lent - is that sacrificial enough? I suppose it's sacrificing the time I would otherwise spend on Pinterest or television. ???

4. I picked up the 2012 Lent devotional at church. I should probably, uh, look at this. 

SO! How to include my family in this? 

I just got finished penning a teeny weeny little note on the Easter booklets World Vision sends out to the people sponsoring children. I think we've been doing this for two years now? Sponsoring kids? I thought it would be a neat way to clue my own kids into The Rest Of The World (see how I turned a charitable act into something about me?) so I used the filter on their site to search for kids with my kids' birthdays, then I let them pick the boy (Jack) and girl (Molly). I don't know. I just thought it would be good/neat/beneficial for them to realize there are kids just like them in other places in the world who do not have what they have. I mean, not that they are aware of this at 4 and 3, but they are SORT OF aware. Also: geography lessons! 

But I have not written to these kids in at least a year. I used to send little packets of stickers and ribbons and stuff, but between the whole rental house/buying a new house and having a new baby, I haven't sent a single thing. World Vision, however, is smart and knows that people are incredibly lazy. I'm sure they've done this before - it was the first time I sat down and looked at it long enough to figure it out - but they produce all these little cards and booklets that you can send to your sponsored kids, but you don't have to put it in the right size envelope and copy out the complicated address and take it to the post office. You just mail it back to WORLD VISION and THEY send it overseas. HOW EASY IS THAT.

Easy enough for me, dudes. I just filled out the Easter packets and the Lifting of Guilt is palpable. But anyway. I was talking about what my kids can do for Lent. One thing they will do is write a letter/draw a picture for their respective sponsored child, pick out some nice flat World Vision-approved fun stuff, and send a package. Thinking About Someone Who Has Less: CHECK.

(P.S. If you have ever thought about sponsoring a child, may I recommend World Vision? Logistically it is the easiest thing EVER. But besides that, I get LOTS of updates (including pictures! handprints!) about our kids which is really kind of awesome. Also: thirty-five dollars a month. YOU CAN TOTALLY DO THAT.)

In addition!

I am going to find some sort of Lent prayer to say together as a family. I'm not sure if we'll say it before bed or before we eat dinner or what, but we'll say it once a day. I WANT to pray more with my kids. I feel silly doing it for some reason, but that's not what I want to feel. I want it to be totally normal. Which means I have actually DO it. 

I'm wondering if I should make some sort of Lent calendar with LENTY things to do. Like the Advent calendar, except, uh, Solemn and Kind Of A Bummer. But I think a calendar would make it easier for me to explain what Lent IS and would also keep me accountable to DOING stuff. So things to do might be coloring Bible story-themed pictures or saying a certain prayer or doing the World Vision package or making a simple dinner or remembering to put coins in the Rice Bowl or reading a Bible story. 

I concentrate on my own faith. I am super SUPER zeroed in on my own relationship with God and I haven't the slightest clue how to incorporate this into my family. Every once in a while Phillip and I will have marathon conversations about something we read or heard, but we don't pray together and we only pray with the kids at meal times and before bed. I want to do this MORE and BETTER and I haven't really heard of a Lent calendar (perhaps I should google?) but I really think this would help ME out. 

See! I have just talked myself into doing this! Wahoo!

Comments

[Kimiko]

Have you seen this? http://www.aholyexperience.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/TrailtotheTree1.pdf

It's sort of like a calendar & great for talking with kids although I certainly don't go into as much detail since my girls are 3 & 6. We did it last year, though, and really liked it.

[Kimiko]

I'm sorry, I just looked at it again & realized it's not a full Lent thing. For some reason it's 17 days long, including Easter. I think we just incorporated it into our Lent observance, that's why I was thinking it was for Lent.

[Beth]

One way we incorporated praying with our kids more was that anytime we see/hear sirens or emergency personnel we collectively say a prayer to guide them and be with those who need their services. It's usually when we're driving, but anytime we see someone in need, we say a little prayer for them. I'm so glad we started doing it too.

[Katie]

Our very churchy Protestant neighbor gave us a set of resurrection eggs she made at MOPS.... I thought it was a neat idea and then I completely forgot to use them with the kids.
Does going out for Friday fish fries count as something special for Lent?