A blessing for when your child heads out the door

Some parents have a custom of praying over children before they leave the house, a beautiful addition to your back-to-school routine.

It’s back-to-school season and a lot of kids will be heading out the door without Mom and Dad in the days ahead.

A child who attends school might be going out to take the bus or carpool with another family, while a homeschooled child might be heading to a co-op, hybrid school, or enrichment activity.

Our hearts and prayers go with our kids whenever they are away from us. We want them to stay safe, and we want them to remember the way we raised them.

A daily blessing

As parents, how can we help them to know that God’s grace and goodness are present with them through every moment of their day?

Some parents have found the answer in a beautiful custom of praying over their children before they leave the house.

I first saw this idea mentioned on Lindsay Boever’s blog, My Child I Love You. She wrote:

I was speaking with my friend Corrine this past summer about our children. She shared with me a beautiful story about a family she knew. The family had multiple religious vocations so immediately I asked her about their family life. Corrine told me one thing she remembered in particular. She remembered their mother praying over each child any time they left the home. I found this so endearing for so many reasons. We are raising them to go out into the world and share the gospel.

Soon after, Boever wrote, she found a “Prayer for Safety” in Magnificat. She cut it out, laminated it, and hung it by her back door. “I pray this over each child as they leave our home,” she wrote. “I thought the kids might find this silly or embarrassing until one time when Dominic was leaving the house, he said ‘Mom, you haven’t prayed over me.’”

A prayer for your home

Here is the prayer from Magnificat in case you want to print it too:

Strong and faithful God,
Keep our son/daughter safe from injury and harm and make him/her a blessing to all he/she meets today.
Amen.

The suggestion to put this prayer next to the door is a great idea. While simple, this prayer is powerful, and blessing your child before they leave home sounds like a beautiful addition to a family’s routine.

I am planning to print this prayer and put it by the door myself, a gentle reminder to both me and my kids that God is with them every day, whether we are together or apart.