Growing up, one of the greatest gifts that my parents gave to my siblings and me was praying the Rosary with us each night and at the beginning of every car trip that exceeded 20 minutes. My husband and I are trying to give the same gift to our children.

Around 7:00 p.m., every evening, we kneel down in our living room and pray the rosary as a family. Each night, a different family member starts the rosary, including the Apostles Creed, the Our Father, three Hail Marys (said for an increase in the virtues of faith, hope, and charity), the Glory Be, and the first decade. Since there are more people in our family than there are decades of the individual mysteries of the rosary, we have devised an unwritten rotating schedule, based on age, to insure that everyone gets an opportunity to begin and/or lead a decade of the rosary each week. For example:

Day 1: Daddy, Mommy, Child 1, Child 2, Child 3
Day 2: Mommy, Child 1, Child 2, Child 3, Child 4
Day 3: Child 1, Child 2, Child 3, Child 4, Child 5
Day 4: Child 2, Child 3, Child 4, Child 5, Child 6
Day 5: Child 3, Child 4, Child 5, Child 6, Daddy
Day 6: Child 4, Child 5, Child 6, Daddy, Mommy
Day 7: Child 5, Child 6, Daddy, Mommy, Child 1
Day 8: Child 6, Daddy, Mommy, Child 1, Child 2
Day 9: Daddy, Mommy, Child 1, Child 2, Child 3

We finish the Rosary with the traditional prayers and then the children say their personal “Dear Jesus” prayers.

On those rare nights, when we start getting into bed without kneeling down to pray (due to guests or a late activity), one of the children will inevitably say, “But Mommy (or Daddy), we haven’t prayed the Rosary.”

I hope that my children will always pray the Rosary each day, and if they are called to married life that they will pass this gift on to their children.