My son’s first prayers out loud at our dinner table were three or four words long, mumbled, eyes cracked open to see if anyone was watching. I would not trade the memory of those early, awkward prayers for the most eloquent prayer I have ever heard from an adult.
Jesus’ own model prayer is simple, almost childlike in its structure — Our Father, give us, forgive us, lead us (Matthew 6:9-13). There is nothing in it that a small child cannot understand and eventually imitate. Teaching my son to pray has not been about correcting his grammar or theology. It has been about giving him a habit early enough that talking to God becomes as natural to him as talking to us.