Start simple and start now. Pick one thing, a meal prayer, a bedtime prayer with the kids, or five minutes of morning prayer together, and do that every day.
You don’t need to have it all figured out. Most Orthodox families stumble into a rhythm over months and years, not overnight. But the basic pattern is this: pray together at consistent times, create a space in your home where you pray, and teach your children by doing it with them, not just talking about it.
Make a prayer corner
Set up an icon corner somewhere in your house. It doesn’t have to be fancy. A small table or shelf with a few icons, a candle, and a cross is enough. This becomes the place your family gathers to pray. When your kids see you light the candle and stand there in the morning, they learn that prayer is real, not just something we talk about on Sunday.
The icon corner connects your home to the Church. You’re not inventing family spirituality from scratch. You’re bringing the life of the Church, the saints, the feasts, the rhythm of prayer, into your living room or kitchen.
Pray at meals
This one’s easy to start. Say a blessing before you eat. The standard “O Christ our God, bless the food and drink of Thy servants, for Thou art holy, always, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen” works fine. Or teach your kids to sing it. Meal prayers are short, they happen every day, and even a two-year-old can learn to make the sign of the cross and say “Amen.”
Some families also give thanks after the meal. Don’t stress about doing both if you’re just starting. One is better than none.
Morning or evening prayers together
Pick one. Most families can’t sustain both, especially with young kids or when someone works nights at the refinery. If mornings are chaos in your house, do evening prayers. If evenings are when everyone scatters, try mornings.
Use the morning and evening prayers from an Orthodox prayer book, but don’t feel like you have to read the whole thing with a five-year-old and a toddler. Shorten it. Read the Trisagion prayers, the Lord’s Prayer, and maybe one or two short prayers. As your kids get older, you can add more.
The Antiochian Department of Christian Education recommends the “Raising Saints” materials from Ancient Faith, which give you short Gospel discussions keyed to each Sunday. That’s a good way to weave Scripture and the saints into your family prayer time without it feeling like a lecture.
Bedtime prayers with children
Keep these short and comforting. “Now I lay me down to sleep” isn’t Orthodox, but the instinct is right, a child’s bedtime prayer should feel safe. Teach them a simple prayer like “O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me” or a short prayer to their patron saint. Stand with them at their icon corner (or at an icon in their room), make the sign of the cross together, and say the prayer.
Some families also do forgiveness at bedtime. You ask your kids to forgive you for anything you did wrong that day, and they ask the same of you. It’s awkward at first. But it teaches them that we don’t go to sleep holding grudges, and it shows them what repentance looks like in real life.
Teach them the Jesus Prayer
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” Even young kids can learn a shorter version: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” This is the prayer you can say anywhere, in the car, during homework, when you’re anxious about hurricane season or a layoff. When your kids see you quietly praying the Jesus Prayer throughout the day, they learn that prayer isn’t just a scheduled activity. It’s how we live.
Be realistic about your schedule
If you work a rotating shift or your spouse does, you can’t always pray together at the same time. That’s fine. Pray the same prayers at different times, or gather when you can and keep individual prayer rules when you can’t. The goal isn’t perfection. It’s consistency over time.
And if you miss a day, you just start again the next day. Don’t let guilt keep you from beginning again.
Let the Church year shape your home
When it’s a feast day, talk about the saint at dinner. When it’s a fast, everyone fasts together (adjusted for age, little kids don’t keep the full fast). Read a saint’s life out loud. Play Orthodox music in the car. This isn’t extra credit. It’s how your children learn that the whole of life is meant to be offered to God, not just the hour on Sunday morning.
The OCA and Ancient Faith both have family resources, short saint stories, podcasts, simple explanations of feasts, that you can use without a theology degree. You don’t have to be an expert. You just have to show up and do it with them.
Your kids will remember standing in front of the icons with you more than they’ll remember anything you said about prayer. So light the candle, make the sign of the cross, and say the words. They’re watching.
