Would you agree or disagree that the most important thing we can do for our children is pray for them daily?

I don't have a problem with that sentiment but I don't agree that it's the most important thing. If it was that easy, so many people wouldn't be in therapy over their childhoods or spending years to "find themselves" after being told who they are for so long. I don't think that there is just one important thing, I think there are a number of important things. I am a very spiritual person but when I think of those things, prayer or any form of spiritual protection is not on my list. The first things that come to my mind are teaching them healthy communication, showing love and affection, teaching them compassion, how to share, showing conflict resolution through example....

I could go on but when I put myself in a Christian's shoes, if I was Christian, I would have faith that God watches over my children and it is my job to raise them and to protect them physically. It is not my job to protect them spiritually or lay their life path out for them through prayer.

It is natural for parents to worry, all of them do but if you find yourself in constant prayer about the spiritual safety of your child, you are distracting yourself from what is more important for you to be doing. I mean, isn't that sending the wrong message out, if you pray constantly for these things...doesn't that mean you think your children are lacking it? Why would they be lacking it? Why would you not have faith that God has that taken care of?

This is a physical world we live in here and you can't send your child out into the world thinking that as long as their spiritual and physical safety is in tact, that's all they need to live a good life. They need the tools and understanding to navigate through the world and these things are not a given, they are taught to us by our parents.

The most important thing a parent can do for their children is to be the best teacher they can be and teach the right subjects. If they want to bring prayer into the scenario, then that's what they should be praying for, for God to help them teach the rights things and give the child the right tools needed to navigate through the world.

This is what is not a given. Children are at the mercy of their parents in that sense.

Wow. For some reason this question got me all riled up. Good one though. :)

Disagree. The most important thing we can do for our children is, like you show, Love and Teach them. Pray all you want, but that doesn't mean a thing when it comes down to being in the world. Praying my son will be an upstanding citizen in society isn't going to make it happen unless I TEACH him how to do that.

These are the types of people who think that unless the public schools force kids to pray, they will be murderers when they grow up. It's convenient how these parents remove the responsibility from themselves and place it on everyone else.

If you are a religious person then yes you should pray for your children if that is what you believe. But those prayers alone are not going to keep your child safe.

A parent needs to love their child, protect their child and comfort their child. Prayer is just saying and wishing for good things to come over your child, but without you actually caring for them Prayer is nothing. Nothing more than words.

The most important thing you can do for your child is to be physically involved in their lives and create a positive impact.

Praying over them will get you no where with out involvement.

By no means the most important thing...not sure it even makes the top 10. Taking actual steps to ensure their physical safety would vastly outweigh any entreaties to a higher power for the same, let alone the rest of it. Tossing the responsibility to a nebulous being is highly unlikely to show any results.

I'm going to have to disagree. Seems to me children would be better served if their parents spent their days providing a good example of how to live their lives. Providing them with a solid ethical and spiritual model. All those things the original poster is praying for, the child would learn naturally if they saw their parents and their parents friends and other adult relatives doing consistently in their own lives.

As a parent I realize there are things that happen to my children that all our teaching and loving will never prevent. Everyone has rain in their lives. Sometimes disaster strikes. That is why I pray for my children because sometimes only God can be there to help. And you know what? He has helped my family tremendously and I am very grateful.

Your question made me think of a few scriptures. I want to say first though, that I really appreciate how you value prayer. And yes praying for our children is one of the most important things you can do. The bible admonishes us to "Pray for one another" (James 5:16) So it is an expression of love doing so for your children. And Luke 11:13 says "If you, although being wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more so will the Father in heaven give holy spirit to those asking him!"

There is nothing passive about praying for our children, we ask our Heavenly Father to guide them, to protect them, to open their hearts to insightful bible wisdom...And who better to ask for these things then our God and Father?

This doesn't mean that this is our only action to take as parents, this is in addition to teaching, providing for, protecting, reprimanding...and all the other responsibilities that come with parenthood. The bible definately expresses the importance of parental responsibilities for example Proverbs 24:27 " Prepare your work out of doors, and make it ready for yourself in the field. Afterward you must also build up your household."

Praying for our children is apart of loving and teaching them. Actually its the most important part. You can and should pray for God to make you the best parent to your child so you can love them and teach them in a way that God sees fit. We are imperfect so we must ask for his guidance daily. So whilst prayer is more important, it is more important because it bolsters what we can do for our children.

Co-Sleeping - No Breastfeeding - Yes Formula Feeding - Yes Vaccinations - Yes Cry It Out Method - Yes Ferber Method - No Bath's/Showers with baby - Yes Circumcision - No Piercing a baby girls ears -Yes Cereal in bottle - No Pro-life - No Pro-choice - Yes Cloth Diapering - No Disposable Diapering - Yes More than one baby shower (like after your first child) - No

not true at all. seriously.

my parents were awesome. went to all my school functions. took all us kids (there were four of us) camping, swimming, to sporting events. we never went without food or clothes. we were taught the dangers of drinking/drugs. we were taught about sex and how to be safe about it. we were encouraged to read. they took the time to get to know our friends and as a result most of my friends refer to my parents as "mom and dad" just like i do. my parents were cool as hell and i thank them every day for raising me and my brothers as well as they did. they may not have always SAID that they loved us, but you could see it in their eyes and feel it in every nice thing they ever did for us.

all of this was done without one spec of religion in our house. there are no crosses hanging on the walls. the last time any of us went to church was so long ago i cant even remember it. my brothers and i were raised well because my parents took the time to be involved in our lives. they took the time to take care of us, learn what we were into, and all that.

i am not saying that i am anti prayer. if you want to pray for stuff on top of being a good parent, then by all means, go for it. rock out with your bad self. but if you think for even one second that praying is going to keep your kid from making a dumb decision better than you stepping in and actually being a PARENT? then your going to find yourself with some bad kids.

PS: totally not saying that crystal is the one who believes in prayer here. i just had to use the whole YOU thing to get my point across.

I'd have to disagree - heck - I was already thinking about what you said in your last line there before I got to it! (lol)

Letting them know they have my unconditional love every day is more important, to me. And yes- teaching them so they CAN be self-reliant in the world is just as important.

More important than praying for someone else to do it for me!!