MAR. 18, 2011 (www.faithandfamilylive.com)  -  The Stations of the Cross are a lovely devotion, and they’re especially appropriate on Fridays in Lent. Many parishes celebrate them on Friday evenings during the season of penance, but it can be difficult to attend with children. Repeatedly standing and kneeling while corralling children and keeping them from disturbing others is enough of a challenge. Trying also to concentrate on the prayers becomes nearly impossible!

With young children, praying the stations at home can be an excellent alternative. Our one-year-old is obviously far too young to have a clue what’s going on, but I think our three-year-old is ready to start praying a simple version with us. And I was excited to discover that there are quite a few options available online for Stations of the Cross to pray with children.

Some of our own readers and Faith & Family Connect members have good ideas for praying the Stations of the Cross with kids. Michelle Reitemeyer, who blogs at Rosetta Stone, shares a beautiful set of children’s stations that she wrote herself. Kate Wicker at Momopoly, in her post entitled “Lent for Little Ones” lists the contents of her family’s Stations of the Cross box, a hands-on tool for helping small children with the concepts behind the stations.

There are also online stations, where you click through and each page has an illustration, a meditation, and a prayer. This one has pictures drawn by children for each of the stations, and this one has very straightforward, simply phrased meditations.

If you have other ideas or resources for praying the Stations of the Cross with kids, please share them!