I can remember the moment clearly. My husband and I watched, slightly nervous,
as our priest took our son from his godfather’s arms. My firstborn began to howl immediately – a howl
which was silenced as he was plunged into the water not just once, but three
times. Baptized in the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Our son sputtered with a slightly shocked expression
on his face, and that same shocked feeling resonated in my soul.
I was a mother. An Orthodox mother. My husband
and I, under the guidance of our spiritual father and with the help of our
son’s godparents, were responsible for raising this child in a Faith that we ourselves
were just beginning to understand.
Every day in the eight years since that day, this
remains my prayer: Lord have mercy. Have mercy on my children.
Have mercy on our family. Grant mercy to me, your unworthy servant,
as I seek to serve you as a wife and a mother.
If this is your prayer as well, and if you are wanting
to raise your infants in the Church, here are a few ideas and tips gained from
not only my experience but the wisdom of many mothers and spiritual fathers.
1. Have Your Infant Baptized
Obviously, this is by far the most important thing
that you as a parent can do for your infant.
Speak to your priest in order to find out all the details and learn what
is entailed at your parish. You will
also want to take your time in selecting godparents for the child, so that you
can choose people who will pray for and guide your child spiritually throughout
life.
2. Take Them to Receive the Eucharist
The importance of take your child to receive the
Eucharist on a regular basis simply cannot be overstated. In the Orthodox Church, a baptized child is
fully part of the Church and receives the Body and Blood of Christ along with
the rest of the parish. The Eucharist is
spiritual nourishment for your baby and works within them in ways that are
beyond our ability to comprehend.
3. Bring the Baby to Church
I know, I know.
It is REALLY hard to bring a baby to Church. There are feeding and napping schedule to
consider, diapers to change, and, let’s face it, even just getting out the door
can be hard to do early in the morning.
But, it is worth it. When a child
grows up in the Church and is accustomed to being in church each week, the
Church and the Faith become part of life.
A much-loved mother of older children in my parish
often tells me that she wishes she had brought her children to church when they
were younger. However, because it was
difficult, they didn’t start going until the children were in elementary
school. By that time it was even more
difficult because the children didn’t know how to behave, were resistant, and
just had a hard time adjusting. (Though,
they are both lovely young adults who are involve in their parishes now. So, don’t give up or become discouraged if
your older children resist going to Church!)
For more on this subject, see my articles on Engaging
Young Children in Church and How to Help That Young Mother in Church.
4. Pray for Them
Pray daily for your children. This could be simple, short prayers
throughout the day such as, “Lord have mercy on my son. Keep him safe and help him to love You.” When you have more time, you can also pray
the Akathist to the Mother of God Nurturer of Children, which is a heartfelt,
beautiful prayer of a mother.
5. Pray with Them
You can also bring your baby in to your family prayer
time. Some of my sweetest memories of my
oldest son’s first months are of family prayer times together in our small icon
corner in our tiny apartment. My husband
and I stood side-by-side, holding our newborn, praying the Morning Prayers or
Evening Prayers together each day. Now
as we have more children (3) and they are older (8, 5, and 3), it can be harder
and a lot more chaotic. So, savor those
quiet moments together!
6. Fill the Nursery with Icons
Many young couples spend hours planning the perfect
nursery. They agonize over every piece
that will fill it from the crib to the sheets, the paint color to the rocking
chair in the corner. While you are
designing a lovely nursery, don’t forget to add icons. You may want to include an icon of Christ and
the Theotokos, an icon or two of your child’s patron saint, an icon of Christ
blessing the children, and any other icons that have meaning to your family.
7. Have “Tummy Time” in the Icon Corner
Another super easy way to integrate the life of Faith
into the home is to have “tummy time” in the icon corner. When putting your baby down for their daily
dose of tummy time, why not place them in front of an icon or two so that they
can look at (and perhaps venerate) the icons?
I am always amazed at how much young children are drawn to icons. Perhaps God works in their souls in ways that
we don’t understand whenever they see an icon of Christ or the saints.
8. Make an Icon Book
You can also make a little icon book very easily. Simply purchase a small photo album. Then fill the pages with paper or laminated
icons. This is a wonderful first book
and is great to bring along to Divine Liturgy on Sundays!
9. Create an Orthodox Children’s Library
In addition to your icon book, add other Orthodox
children’s books to your child’s library.
Some of my favorite board books for young ones are Goodnight Jesus by
Angela Isaacs, What Do You See at Liturgy by Kristina Tartara, and Josiah and
Julia Go to Church by Kelly Ramke Lardin.
10. Play Orthodox Music
With so much quality, streaming music available now,
it is really simple to fill your home with the sounds of Orthodox church
music. We often stream Ancient Faith
Radio’s music throughout our day, and I just discovered the music of Eikona and
am really loving it!
11. Sing Church Songs as Lullabies
One of my favorite times of each day is that sweet
time right before bed, when I get to cuddle my little ones (even my
eight-year-old will let me get in a few hugs before bedtime!). Singing lullabies has always been part of our
bedtime ritual, and those lullabies come from the music of the Church. I have sung the Trisagion Hymn, the Hymn to
the Theotokos, the Lord Have Mercy in various languages, O Taste and See, and O
Give Thanks Unto the Lord to my children.
But, whatever hymns that you know in whatever musical style that you
know with whatever amount of musical ability that you have is wonderful!
12. Live a Faithful Life Before Them
Finally, most of these ideas won’t mean very much at
all if you aren’t trying to live a faith life before your child. Model your faith, live out your salvation, be
the image of Christ in your home. The
rest will follow.
Lord have mercy on us all.
Source: http://www.orthodoxmotherhood.com/creating-orthodox-home-baby-tips-parents/
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