My Daily Evening Ritual With Abby

When I was out in the Bay Area, I also had a chance to eat dinner with Charles and Genevieve Owyang, and their daughter Juliana, and Angela Lih Chang and her two sons, Tobey and Elias. Charles, Genevieve and Angela are friends of mine from BCEC. It was really great to catch up with them, and see their kids. I guess I'm now at the stage in life where all my friends from college all have young kids.

One of the things I told them at dinner is my nightly ritual with Abby to put her to bed. Melissa and Abby just came back to New York from a long vacation in Singapore. My nightly ritual with Abby is a bit out of sync now, but I hope to get back to this regular routine soon.

Usually, by the time I get home from work, Melissa will have already given Abby a bath and fed her some baby food. After playing with her for a bit, we give her a bottle of warm milk. At around 8:30 PM, we say good night to mommy, and I carry Abby upstairs. I sit her down in my lap and I read her a chapter in a bible story book written especially for fathers and daughters called "Little Girls Bible Storybook for Fathers and Daughters", by Carolyn Larsen.

After the bible story, I carry Abby in my arms and sing the "ABC" song, while pointing to each letter of the alphabet on a large poster of the alphabets. I then say, "How do you spell Abby? (point at Abby)" "It's A-B-B-Y", and point to each letter on the poster. "How do you spell Daddy (point at myself)?" "It's D-A-D-D-Y", and point at the letters on the poster. "How do you spell Mommy (and point to each letter on the poster)". "How do you spell Jesus (and point to the letters).

Then I say, "Daddy loves you (I kiss Abby on the checks)", "Mommy loves you (kiss Abby again)", "Jesus loves you (kiss Abby a third time)".

After this, I turn off the lights in the room, leaving only a night light. I sing to Abby the song, "Jesus Loves Me This I Know", a few times while I rock her to sleep. I then pray for Abby, that God will watch over her, protect her against any accidents, sickness or disease. I pray that Abby will know God's love, and that Melissa and I will be good parents, and make the right decisions. I thank God for blessing us with her. I may also summarize a topical prayer for Abby found in "The Power of a Praying Parent", by Stormie Omartian. (I think I have all of her different books on prayer).

I conclude by singing to Abby the Doxology, which is "Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here below, Praise Him above ye heavenly host, Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen." Then I put Abby into her crib. Hopefully by this point, she's asleep. If she's not, I sit with her for a while until she falls asleep.

When Melissa and Abby was away on vacation, one of the things I missed the most was this nightly routine with Abby.

If you have a nightly routine with your child, I would love to hear what it is. Please share it with us!