Prayers for Children
Two kinds of prayer sit here. First, prayers parents and grandparents pray over children — for protection, for their future, for a child who is struggling.
Second, short prayers simple enough for a child to learn and say alone at bedtime.
18 prayers
- A Prayer for a Newborn Child
A prayer of thanksgiving and blessing at a birth, closing with the Aaronic Blessing of Numbers 6. Christians have blessed newborns from the…
- A Prayer for a Sick Child
A contemporary parents' prayer at a child's sickbed, echoing the pleas of Jairus and the Canaanite woman in the Gospels — both parents who…
- A Prayer for Adult Children
A contemporary pastoral prayer in the tradition of St. Monica, who prayed seventeen years for her son Augustine. It is written for parents…
- A Prayer for Children
A prayer for the young and for those raising them, adapted from the Book of Common Prayer's prayers "For Young Persons" and "For the Care…
- A Prayer for Expectant Parents
A prayer for pregnancy drawing on Psalm 139:13–16. The Church has long prayed for safe childbirth — the Roman Ritual, the Book of Common…
- A Prayer for Teachers and All Who Raise Children
A contemporary prayer for teachers, catechists, coaches, and parents, drawing on Mark 10:13–16 and Christ's warning in Matthew 18:6. St.…
- A Prayer for the Protection of Children
A contemporary parents' prayer of protection, drawing on Christ's words in Matthew 18:10 that the angels of children "always see the face…
- Blessing of a Christmas Crib
The blessing of the Christmas crib from the Book of Blessings, said in churches and homes when the nativity scene is set up — a custom…
- Blessing of an Expectant Mother
A blessing for a mother during pregnancy, asking protection for her and for her unborn child.
- Blessing of Children
A parent's or minister's blessing over children, echoing Christ's blessing of the little ones.
- Novena to St. Monica
St. Monica (c. 331–387) prayed and wept for seventeen years over her brilliant, dissolute son Augustine, following him from North Africa to…
- Prayer of Authority (For Spouse and Children)
Catholic teaching on deliverance rests on the principle that authority follows office: a bishop holds authority over his diocese, a pastor…
- Prayer of St. Ioannikios
Four lines by St. Ioannikios the Great (752–846), a soldier who became a hermit on Mount Olympus. The prayer is sung at Orthodox Compline…
- Prayer of St. Monica for a Wayward Child
St. Monica prayed for the conversion of her son Augustine for nearly thirty years. Her patronage of mothers of wayward children rests on…
- Prayer to My Guardian Angel
A rhymed version of the Latin Angele Dei, attributed in substance to St. Anselm of Canterbury in the eleventh century and taught to…
- Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe
A widely used prayer associated with St. John Paul II's entrustment of the Americas to Our Lady of Guadalupe. The devotion began with the…
- The Aaronic Blessing
Given to Moses for Aaron and his sons in Numbers 6:24–26, this is the oldest blessing text in continuous liturgical use. A silver amulet…
- The Canaanite Woman's Prayer
'Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs.' A mother refuses to be dismissed and is told her faith is great. Prayed by those who feel…