Grace

We only say grace before big holiday meals for which the entire family has gathered, but for regular meals, we say a traditional Asian "toast" that translates to "We receive," or more loosely, "Thank you for the food." We don't say it before snacks.

We like to do the johnny appleseed song. My 4 and 2 yr olds love it. My 4 yr old also sings it at preschool before snack. :)

"Oh the Lords been good to me,
And so I thank the Lord
for giving me the things I need,
like the sun, the rain and the apple seed,
Oh, the Lords been good to me.
Amen!"

Here's a good post about this: http://bit.ly/htEZfB
Kids learn what they are taught. They are taught not only through instruction, but through daily activity and the way they live and the examples we set. Thanks for the reminder. I need to do this more.

We pray before dinner and bedtime with our kids. They like to say a prayer I taught them. If we are out at a restaurant with our kids, we still pray. But I pray any time of the day. It could look like I'm off in la-la-land but really I'm praying about something.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes.

I was brought up with that, and we said grace at every meal. Sometimes it was a set prayer (i.e., "God is great, God is good..." although we had other standard ones), and sometimes it was impromptu but short and sweet - my family always said that eating the food when it was still hot was something to be thankful for as well.

I did teach my children the same thing, because when I grew up I found out that saying grace was more than just pronouncing some words over food. It started to mean something significant and important.

That is why I truly thank God for everything He has provided for me - including every meal, even snacks. When I'm eating snacks I'm not supposed to eat, it's, um, a little harder to do actual thanking - but maybe that's good as well! It helps keep my eating habits on track. :^)

Dinner and bedtime here.

I make a point of being thankful for for my food, for several reasons.

1. It is good not to take good things for granted. Gratitude makes for a richer and happier life, and I've found it actually enhances compassion for people who don't have as much good fortune as I do. I also enjoy my mealtime companions more.

2. It also enhances my appreciation for our earth and its creator, the hard work that went into producing the food, and the animal or plant whose life was ended to feed me. I'm less inclined to be wasteful.

3. Blessing my food puts me more in the present moment, and I notice and enjoy my mealtime experience more. I'm less likely to eat absentmindedly, and have a much easier time noticing and stopping when I've had enough.

4. I've found that when I bless my food, I seem to digest it more comfortably and I'm less likely to have an allergic response to it (I have many allergies).

My daughter and I said a simple, unobtrusive grace when she was little, and now she has taught her son (and hubby) to do the same. My husband and I still hold hands for a moment of silent appreciation. We all do this both at home and in public, unless we sense that it would make other dinner companions uncomfortable. Then we just give our own silent blessings individually, or hold hands under the table if we can reach, and smile at each other before starting to eat.

We did when I was a kid, and if my Dad is around, he still usually does it. It's such a rambled off "rote" exercise! If it's a special occasion like a family reunion or Thanksgiving, he or one of my aunts or uncles will actually say a meaningful prayer. We just don't do it. It's never been a "thing" of mine. I've recently been discussing the concept of prayer in general with my oldest son, who is 4. To me, praying is just really personal, and the blessings before meals have always been without much meaning.

we dont do it at restaurants unless our daughter insists. We do do it at home, and not before a snack, just a meal.

We say grace at Holiday dinners. In fact wherever I am I make everyone do it, tehehe.

My kids started out at a Catholic school where we said grace before lunch and snack time.

God is Great
God is Good
Let us Thank Him for our Food

absolutely beautiful watching a table full of three year olds folding their hands and bowing their little heads!

On regular days, while I'm cooking, everyone is in the kitchen with me, we taste together, there is usually loud music and laughter, we end up grazing at the island, never really sitting down for a formal meal. It's a beautiful thing!

Merry Christmas!

We always pray over the food. The kids take turns. I think everyone should do it : ). We thank God for our food and ask him to bless it and then pray about whatever else we want to as well. I believe in praying daily, as many times as you want. It does bring strength, gratitude, and blessings from above. I believe God created us and everything in the world, and he can take us and/or everything we own at anytime. Without Him, we are nothing, with him, we can be anything.

Dinner and bed time here as well.

I can honestly say that I don't say a specific "grace" at a specific time. I talk to God when I have a thank you to say or a blessing to ask for (either myself or someone else) so its kind of an ongoing conversation.

My husband does say his own personal grace before his meals (yep, even snacks, regardless of whether he's home or at a restaurant) and my son (5) has also started doing it (more like copying dad right now, but off to a good start regardless).

We didn't do this in my house growing up....I'm not sure if my hubby's mom did when he was growing up.

I've always felt that you can talk to God anytime you want to....there doesn't have to be a pre-set agreed upon time. So with all the chaos going on with meal times and dinner prep and table setting and getting the munchkins fed, I don't feel like I'm really in the "right place" emotionally to have a conversation with God at that point. Most often, I will say (at the end of the day) "Thank you God for such a good day full of happiness".

I try to pray through out the day but to answer your question - yes to almost everything :-)
We say grace before every meal but not necessarily snacks, we usually take turns so the kids often pray. For us it doesn't matter where we are but like another post said we don't make a huge deal out of it. We say our prayer quietly and then continue our evening - not because we are afraid of offending people but because we typically believe that prayer isn't intended to be staged & showy (Matthew 6). It's our way of being intentional in our thanks and modeling that for our kids. As a child we only prayed at "big" dinners such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, & Easter.
Mucho blessings!

No, I don't. No, I don't teach my kids to. But I bow my head out of respect when others I am with pray before meals, and teach my kids to do the same.

We say God is great, God is good, Let us thank him for our food, Amen
on weekdays, and only in the house or at the grandparents' houses, that of friends, not out to eat at restaurants.
We say the Lord;s Prayer on Sunday and either the Apostle's Creed or Psalm 23 on Saturday.
I have also taught mine to say the Lord's Prayer in Latin.

No you're not weird! I didn't grow up saying grace or praying before meals unless we were at my gramma's home.
But i'm a christian now and we say a short grace while at restaurants, sometimes we forget. And we say a longer grace at home before meals, I started this thing where myself and my daughter say 5 things we're thankful for that happened during the day(my hubby works nights so misses those meals) it could be something like my daughter says she's thankfuly for library day at school, rain for the trees and grass or something liek gramma lauretta in heaven. I started it because a lot of kids are just so greedy and get the gimme gimmes nowadays that it's nice to reflect on all the "stuff" and simple things like a sunndy day. We only do that before dinner because it can become a LONG drawn out grace. And sometimes for fun we 'toast' too like ruba dub dub thanks for the grub or say things like cheerios in a British accent, makes meal time fun.
pammy

This is a great question. We say the traditional Catholic grace before every meal and we hold hands while saying it. We just started adding something that we are thankful for as well. Sometimes one of my children will say, "I am thankful Daddy was willing to pick up pizza:)" and another will say, "I am thankful for chickens!" I am just trying to remind them that we are very blessed to have food on the table and a warm house to eat it in. I also want them to learn to be thankful for their Mom who cooked it or their Dad who picked it up...you know what I mean?

Even if you are not a religious person you can stop for a moment and give thanks for the earth that provided the meal and children should thank their parents for providing for them. I think this is a good way to build a thankful spirit in children and to not take everything for granted. I do think the toast is a fun idea, too. I think I am going to light candles at dinner tonight!!!

Oh well...just mho...for what it's worth;)

Take care and God bless and Happy Holidays!!

Yes, we pray before meals because we are thankful for the food that God has provided for us. We truly are thankful because we know that everything we have is a gift from Him. We don't have a canned prayer. We just pray from the heart. Any one of us might pray at any given meal. And, we do pray in restaurants. We're just as thankful there. We also thank the Lord for whomever it was who did the work in preparing the meal. We don't usually pray before a snack, but I think perhaps we should! If it is a more arranged snack and not a grab and go, we do, but not for that handful of almonds, or whatever. And yes, I did pray as a child before meals.

we say grace before dinner as that is the one meal we have as a family. So next question is yes, only at home, answered, yes - we did God is great when i was a kid. my child has a blessing that he learned at preschool that we have been using for the last few years.

nope. sounds good.

On holidays, or special dinners we do. When we visit my brother there is a "chant" to thank God before every meal. Food is offered to God as well. Usually when my daughter feels like it she will do a variation of one of these two things.

unfortunatly my husband is atheist and even though he does not deterr the grace, or offerings he would not expect them either.

Yep, we pray grace before most meals... breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sometimes I forget, but it's become a good habit, so the kids usually remind me. My 6 year old sometimes says it quietly so he can start eating before everyone else! ;) Usually we all hold hands and offer our prayer of thanksgiving. I understand some people see it as a "rote" recital, but in my opinion, some things are good as habits... just remembering to be thankful in general. I think the toast is fun, too! Do what's best for your family to encourage an attitude of gratitude.

We always say grace before a meal. Sometimes we do forget when we are in a restaurant, but my son often reminds us. We don't do it before a snack. (My son does at school, but not at home.) We always did grace before meals as a kid. We also had to say one thing we were thankful for. :)

I never pray before a meal at home. If I am at someones house and they do, then to be polite I will say the prayer. When people come to my house they are welcome to say a prayer if they want to. I will say a toast sometimes. I think whatever you decide to do is up to you and nobody else. I do not think you are weird.

My daughter, who is three, and I say grace before all meals, even when away from home. I grew up saying grace and can't remember I time when I didn't say grace. My husband does not pray with us, but he does hold hands and bow his head. We say the common Catholic grace, "Bless us oh Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive, from Thy bounty, through Christ Our Lord. Amen."

We're just in the habit of saying it before dinner at home.

Yes we pray. If we are out at a restaurant and forget, we always stop and say "are we thankful?" to each other and answer "yes we are!"

Hi,

I think grace is important in many ways, gratitude, and also to slow down and enjoy dinining together.

A non-denominational prayer they used to say at my son's old school was "Thank you [God] for who I am, thank you for the friends I have, thank you for the food we eat, thank you for each day." We continue to say it now.

They actully didn't say "God" at the school. I think this was a nice grace for kids.

C.

My family and I always say grace before every meal to show God that we are thankful and grateful to have food to eat. For many, food is hard to come by and I know that all it would take is the loss of a job in my household that would equate a loss of a meal.

I think it's also important to pray or say grace before eating because what we're putting in our bodies can potentially harm us even if we prepared it ourselves. Meats, vegetables and canned goods contain many chemicals that are harmful, but we, for the most part aren't affected by them and that in and of itself is enough to be thankful for. :)

We pray before every meal, but not before snack. I taught my kids the prayer I used when we were little but my oldest daughter edited it into something she wanted to use instead. My 19 month old just puts her hands together and babbles something, but at least she is getting the idea!