• Have a Bible in your house, and have your child become familiar with it.    http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/index.htm
• Buy a Children's Bible to use for bedtime reading.
• Read the Bible as a family and each person share in spirit of prayer what the Lord is telling to them.
• Read the Gospel together before you go to Mass. http://www.usccb.org/nab/today.shtml
• Comment after Mass about the homily and the readings.
• Invite your child to act out Scripture stories.
• Watch with your child cartoons movies about stories from the Bible (i.e. Moses, David) http://www.usccb.org/movies/familyvideo/videoall.shtml
• Have your child go to Vacation Bible School at your parish or nearby parish.

• Teach your child the importance of handling the Bible with respect and reverence.  Teach active listening to these special stories.

• Tell your child Bible stories: especially creation, the life of Jesus, and the Easter story.
• Encourage your child to choose their favorite stories about Jesus, Mary, and the Apostles and retell them.

• Have a discussion about the Greatest Commandment and how that teaches us how to live.

• Review with your child what he/she learned in his/her religion class.
• Have a Catechism of the Catholic Church in the house.  Make sure you are educated about the Faith so you can answer questions for your child.  Have your child see you reading the Bible, the Catechism or some other spiritual work.            http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc/index.htm
• Encourage your child to start a relationship with each one of the persons of the blessed Trinity.
• Have an image of Mary in your home and pray to her.

• Talk with your child about God: that He is eternal, the Creator of all.
• Teach the Glory Be. http://www.catholicmom.com/catholic_prayers.htm

• Make lists of things that are man-made and made by God.   Develop habits of expressing gratitude for God’s creation.

• Thank God for the gift of your life.

• Encourage your child to do good actions looking to please God, offering Him good actions.
• When he/she does something wrong, teach him/her to say sorry to God.

• Make a chart of things each person does to please God.  Tell the story of the Ten Lepers (Luke 17:11-19) and how only one came back. 
• Affirm the kind actions of your child encouraging him/her to do something extra nice every day.

• Tell your child about the life of Jesus and how He teaches us how to live.

• Have your child help you make a Nativity set, make a crib with your child and add that to your Christmas decorations.

• Participate with your child in the celebration of the Holy Week and explain to him/her how Jesus died on the cross for our sins but rose to life again on Easter Sunday.

• Pray a Novena in Advent to prepare for the Birth of Jesus. http://www.catholicculture.org/lit/prayers/view.cfm?id=53 or http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/novena/christmas.htm 

• Plant a little garden with your child and add a statue of Mary.

• Go with your child to Church and teach him/her that it is a Sacred place.

• Choose a children's level biography of a saint and read it together.
• Encourage "friendship" with the saints. Talk to your child about his/her feast saint or the saint that has his/her name. Celebrate their feast days. http://www.catholic-forum.com/Saints/indexsnt.htm

• Go with your child to Mass and teach him that there Jesus shares himself.
• Be an example of silence during the Mass, and teach your child to have good behavior because God is there. Show him/her how to genuflect. Sit up front so your child can see what happens.
• Explain to your child what we celebrate on the Holy Days. http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=1371
• Do things as a family on Sunday "The Lord's Day". http://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/  documents/
  archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html (go to Ns. 450-454)
• Visit the Blessed Sacrament with your child frequently.
• Celebrate the day of your and your child's Baptism.
• Create special celebrations around Christmas and Easter, Holy Days and other saints' feast days.  Use the Church's liturgical year as your calendar. http://www.catholicculture.org/lit/calendar/year.cfm
• Create a prayer on Christmas Eve night and put the baby Jesus in the crib.
• Have your child help you with the preparations of Advent; make a nativity - a crib - with your child and add this to the Christmas decorations. http://www.catholicmom.com/advent.htm
•  Teach your child Christmas songs.              http://www.catholic.net/christmas_songs/template_channel.phtml?channel_id=7         

• Read the story of the Last Supper and explain to your child that when we go to Mass, Jesus is present.  Direct your child’s focus to the priest during the consecration.

Know that Communion is Jesus.

• Bring your child to pray before the Blessed Sacrament, and explain that Jesus is there. Talk your child about the lives of the saints and that they have great devotion to the Eucharist.http://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/
  archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html (go to N. 282) 

• Recall your child’s Baptism.  Show pictures (video), candle and white garment from the Baptism. Celebrate it.

• When you go to another child's Baptism, explain the ceremony to your child.  Explain that a new child is welcomed into the family of God; explain what it means to be part of the family of God - that we have to treat each other like family and that we want to try to be like Jesus.

• Discuss a couple of situations that you and your child have had of forgiveness. Share some of your own from childhood.

Understand that the church building is the place where our parish family gathers to celebrate Mass.

• Go with your child to visit churches and show to him/her the different images.

• Be an example of silence during the Mass, and teach your child to have good behavior because God is there. Teach him/her how to genuflect.

• Teach your child the colors of the liturgical seasons and put something in his or her room of that color. http://www.vatican.va/liturgical_year/liturgico_en/liturgico_en.html

• Take a calendar and decorate these days on the calendar.
• Develop special celebrations and traditions around feast days and Holy Days - e.g., read the story of the Annunciation, watch a cartoon about Juan Diego or St. Patrick, participate in a May Crowning.

• Invite your child to give to the poor at Christmas.
• Have each family member commit to a new way to participate in the community life of your parish.
• Discuss with your child how to take care of creation.
• Encourage your child to be generous to the poor and needy.
• Give example to your child by sharing your time, treasure and talents with the Church.

• Display your child’s baptism pictures in a public place in the house so that they can engage others in conversation.
• Remind your child when he/she bless him/herself with holy water; it is a reminder of his/her Baptism.

• Tell your child about the life of a Saint who helped the poor. http://www.catholic-forum.com/Saints/indexsnt.htm

• Draw a picture of a time you were in need (sick, feeling sad).  Include those who helped you and anything they gave you that made you feel better or were a comfort to you.

Discuss the creation story to show ways to appreciate and care for the gifts of creation.

• Ask your child to draw a living part of creation you want to take care of and love.
• Look in the newspaper for a group that needs help caring for God's creation and offer to volunteer for at least one day.

• Help your child to recognize and celebrate his/her gift and talents. Brainstorm together small tasks he/she could incorporate into his/her routine to cultivate those gifts.

• Make a commitment with your child about one virtue you are going to work on during the week or about a bad habit you are struggling to overcome.
• Watch a family movie together, then talk about the movie; show the values and the anti-values which are present.
• Tell your child about the life of Jesus and how He taught us how to live.
• Talk about the qualities of Mary.

• Explain to your child what his/her conscience is http://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/
  archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html (go to N. 372)
• Teach them the "Golden Rule" - treat others as you would like to be treated.
• Identify a bad habit that you and your child have and resolve to correct it and to do better together.
• Share a really good choice you have made recently. What happened as a result?
• Share a poor choice you recently made.  How did you and others feel about it?

• Pray a prayer to the Holy Spirit all week http://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/ archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html  (go to appendix)

• Describe the work each person in the Holy Trinity does for us.http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P17.htm

• Share these stories with your child: The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) and The Good Shepherd (John 10:11-15).

Understand that when they do not act in a caring way with others, they should ask for forgiveness from their parents, teachers, and Jesus.

• Tell about a time when you kept your promise and a time when you broke your promise.  What is the right thing to do when you have made a promise?
• Apply this model to your life situations as they occur.

• Choose one thing, as a family, to pray for together each week.

• Make the Sign of cross every day: in the morning, before meals and at night.
• Pray with your child before every meal. http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=209
• Pray with your child the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be, when you enter a new Church or before traveling.  http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/index.htm
• Teach your child to always pray to his/her Guardian Angel.  Pray to the Guardian Angel together. http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/angel2.htm
• At bedtime say a prayer giving thanks to God for His love and gifts, asking for forgiveness for the bad things we have done and asking to bless our friends, family and needs in the world.
• Tell your child stories about saints. Celebrate your child's Saint Feast day.              http://www.catholic-forum.com/Saints/indexsnt.htm
• Buy your child religious objects.

• Pick a prayer leader in your family to lead these prayers when you pray them together.

Participate in an age-appropriate stations of the cross during Lent.

• Attend Stations of the Cross with your child at your parish.  http://www.catholicculture.org/lit/prayers/view.cfm?id=1009

Participate in Mass prayerfully.

• Pray before and after Mass.
• Correct your child when they behave badly during the Mass. Teach them how to behave in Church.

• Assign a different family member each day to lead the prayer.

• Encourage your child to talk to Jesus when he/she is sad, happy, confused, etc.  Remind your child that he/she can talk with Jesus like he/she talks with his/her best friend. Pray with your child and let your child see you pray.  Be a good example with your posture, demeanor, etc.

• Ask each member of your family to make a thank you card which tells God how much you love Him and are grateful for all you have.  Hang your card in a special place.

Know that silence helps enter into and attend to God's presence in prayer.

• Create a small prayer table in your child’s room. Let them select a small statue of a saint.  Collect holy cards, medals, and keep the rosary, scapular, holy water, and other religious objects on this table. Pray with your child in this sacred "space" and encourage your child to go to this space in times of frustration as well as joy.  

Tell ways that God shows love for them.

• Make a list of all of the gifts they received from God.
• Always talk with your child about the love of God.
• Put on a short play to display the ways God shows love.

• Find something to say thank you to Jesus for each day.

• Make an unexpected visit to church other than on a Sunday.  Light a candle while you are there.

• Participate in church fellowship activities.