Lent for Little Kids

Talking to Jesus also makes Him smile!

I've been talking to friends who still have little ones, and it made me think about what I learned from all those Lents with littles (I'm thinking 2-4 year olds, but if you're just starting to celebrate Lent, this would apply up to around age 8.  Below 2 it seems like it's enough for them to watch you).

I know I just did a big post on ideas for Lent, and a lot of those ideas work for little kids, but here's what I learned specific to young children:

The most important thing you can do is to share your love and joy in the Lord with them.

If I only had really young kids, I would just do the Walking with Jesus poster so they could see where we were on the journey, and each day I would ask: What could we do today to make Jesus smile?

I would explain "the gospel on five fingers," Mother Teresa's explanation that the heart of the Gospel is Jesus' saying that whatever you do to others "You Did It To Me."

If they had trouble coming up with something in the beginning, I would make suggestions, but pretty much whatever they came up with I would try to do, and add flowers around the footprints for each "smile."

I'd also skip sweets except on Sundays (although we ate a lot of sweet dried fruit which my kids called God's candy"), but that's it!  You can always add more as you go if you decide you need more.

Keeping it simple and doable was the key for me, not only for keeping the kids engaged, but for giving me a real love for Lent which I didn't really have before I started celebrating with my kids.