The Atheist Mama

Seeing Stardust’s post of the Atheist “Prayer” prompted me to write this post. I wrote about the “Little Books” in a comment once on a post by The Freethought Mom (who has since disappeared…).

When our boys are ready for bed, we go into the bedroom and “do little books.” The “little books” is a collection of about 12 or 14 very small (maybe 2×2?) books all contained in a little box that’s made to look like a bed. All of the stories are short bedtime stories or songs. I got these as a gift while pregnant with my oldest. We started this probably about 2 years ago and we still do it. Even my 17 month old asks for the “little books” when we go into the bedroom.

They each get to pick one, and we read 3 or 4 of them. My oldest has them all memorized now. As soon as we’re done with the books, they get put away and they get into bed. My husband takes one boy and I take the other and we lay with them and talk about what they are going to dream about. Then my husband and I switch (they are in the same room) and we usually continue the dream talk (my oldest dreams about a lot!).
Then we say good night!

I wrote this several months ago. The 17 month old that I was speaking about will be 2 years old on the 7th. But we still “do little books” every night. I consider some of these books a great substitue for that evening prayer that so many children say. If and when we are faced with the question about why they don’t pray before bed (which I expect to hear from one of their friends some day in the future), they can say that while they don’t actually pray, they do have some stories that help them have good thoughts through the night. You can see the pictures of these books here (on Amazon).

Here are a few of those stories:

Good Night

Good night.
Good night.
Sleep tight…
Wake up bright,
In the morning light,
To do what’s right -
With all your might.

Come to the Window

Come to the window, my baby with me,
and look at the stars that shine on the sea!
There are two little stars that play at bo-peep,
with two little fishes far down in the deep.
And two little frogs cry, “Neap, neap, neap.”
I see a dear baby, who should be asleep.

And my favorite:

Sleep, Baby, Sleep

Sleep, baby, sleep,
Thy father guards the sheep.
Thy mother shakes the dreamland tree,
and from it fall sweet dreams for thee,
Sleep, baby, sleep.

Sleep, baby, sleep,
Down where the woodbines creep.
Be always like the lamb so mild,
A kind, and sweet, and gentle child.
Sleep, baby, sleep.

I encourage you to share these little stories with your children!! I think they are beautiful, and they have been a part of our bedtime routine for so long… They are sure to be precious memories some day.