The start of a new school year can be a time of great excitement and anticipation for children. It's a chance to learn new things, make new friends, and grow as a person. But it can, unfortunately, also be a time dappled with waves of anxiety and stress. New challenges and responsibilities can be daunting, and children may not always know how to handle them.
Prayer can be a powerful tool to help children through the ups and downs of the school year. Regardless of whether your child attends public school, private school, home school, online school, or something in between, by praying for them, you can ask God to protect them, guide them, and give them the strength and wisdom they need to succeed. Only the Creator Himself loves your child more than you do, so why not approach His throne boldly and often as you consider the school year ahead?
Here are 5 ways to pray for your child this school year:
1. Pray for their spiritual growth.
Ask God to open your child's heart to Him and to help him or her grow in their faith. This is always such an important prayer to pray for your child throughout the course of his or her lifetime, but just as early academic education helps children develop the foundation they need for future learning, early spiritual education helps them develop the foundation they need for future growth in their faith. During the early years, children's brains are rapidly developing, and they are learning at an incredible pace--which is exactly why we as parents are encouraged to read often with our children. But while the gift of an education is such a privilege and a blessing, we cannot forget as Christ-honoring parents that more than anything else, the most important gift your child can possibly receive in this life is salvation and a relationship with Jesus Christ.
2. Pray for their character.
Ask God to help your child to continue to develop a strong moral compass and to make choices that are pleasing to Him this school year.
A high school teacher of mine years ago had a habit of reminding his students constantly that character is essentially "who you are when you think nobody is looking". And you know what? He's absolutely right.
Pray for your child to be courageous to choose to do the right thing even when it'd be easier to take the easy way out. Pray for your child's conscience to feel uncomfortable when a classmate isn't being kind to another student or when your child is tempted to cheat on a frustrating homework assignment.
3. Pray for their relationships.
Ask God to help your child be a good friend, make good friends, and build strong and healthy relationships with their teachers and classmates. And while you're at it, pray for their classmates' friendships too! These are the friendships that are ultimately helping to shape what kind of relationships your child will continue to make as he or she moves from adolescence to adulthood. Try praying specifically for your child's relationships to be healthy, respectful, kind-hearted, and God-centered.
4. Pray for their safety.
Ask God to watch over your child and keep them safe from harm, physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually.
Times may have changed since we as adults were students ourselves, but it seems that bullies will, unfortunately, always exist, and your child will undoubtedly encounter one during his or her time spent in school. And we know the safety concerns don't stop there--every time we turn around, there seems to be another threat of major violence in schools. God never promises that our children will live their lives free of pain, and sometimes the unthinkable still happens in this broken world, but praying for your child's safety and an extra hedge of protection around them is such a critical part of your prayer arsenal.
5. Pray for their academic success (but keep expectations at a healthy place).
It's 100% okay and encouraged to ask God to give your child the focus and motivation he or she needs to do their best in school, but I do feel like it's important to note here that it's imperative to keep your child's emotional well-being in mind as you consider your requests to God. It's no secret that in recent years, anxiety levels are up drastically for students in general. Rigorous testing, limited outdoor playtime, and heightened expectations from teachers and parents are on the rise and can easily become a recipe for heightened stress and worry in the mind of a child.
Rather than praying that your child aces her math test, try praying for her to be able to clear her mind of "worry bugs" so she can calmly and more easily recall the flashcards she poured over in study the days prior to her test. As parents, it's sometimes easy to forget that academic success doesn't have to look like all A's - sometimes the life lessons our children learn when they don't achieve the grades they hope for are more important in the grand scheme of things.
Prayer is a powerful tool that can help your child navigate the challenges of the school year. By praying for them, you can show them your love and support, and you can ask God to bless them in every way.
Here are some additional tips for praying for your child this school year:
Pray regularly. Don't just pray on the first day of school and then forget about it. Make time to pray for your child throughout the year.
Be specific in your prayers. Don't just pray for your child's overall well-being. Pray for specific things that you know they are struggling with.
Pray with your child. This is a great way to teach them about the importance of prayer and to help them develop their own prayer life.
Don't be afraid to ask for help. If you are struggling to know how to pray for your child, don't be afraid to ask for help from other parents, teachers, or ministers.
Prayer is a powerful way to connect with God and ask for His help. By praying for your child this school year, you can help them to grow and succeed in every way.
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