I teach nine and ten year old students in a Catholic school and part of our religious curriculum entails teaching them about different types of prayer; prayers of petition, prayers of thanksgiving and prayers asking for forgiveness.
Even if you're a non-believer, it's nevertheless an excellent reflective exercise to get the kids to think about what they're grateful for; what they think is the most important thing in life and how they could make themselves into better people.
Today they completed a test requiring them to create their own prayers and whilst I normally despise marking assessment, I was rewarded with a few laughs marking this one.
I hoped for lofty answers professing gratitude for their secure lives and loving families and a desire to see an end to war, violence and poverty... but it seems the kids have other priorities.
Below are some of the funny responses:
Dear Gog, Can you please make the Cowboys win every footy game they play?
Dear God, I would like to catch a good fish.
Dear God, Thank you for making X Box.
Dear God, Help me not to be a sore loser or winner at the handball match against my cousin.
Dear God, Please forgive me for ignoring my mum this morning.
Dear God, Please help me with the Weetbix triathlon.
Dear God, Thank you for making the trees because they are really cool and also very branchy. And wooden.
Dear God, Forgive me for shooting my brother in the face yesterday with my machine gun witch (sic) is acshalee (sic) a nerf gun by the way.
Dear God, Thanks for all my family and the cute bunnies in the world.
* Dear God, Please forgive me for what me and my friends did on the weekend.
Dear God, I am sorry for using Jesuses (sic) and your name in vain. I will never do it again and I mean it this time.
Dear God, Can i have a birthday party?
Dear God, Forgive my sister for slamming the car door on my leg this morning.
Dear God, Please help me get ungroundeded (sic) so i can play with Connor and have a sleepover that's all I ask for.
Dear God, Can I have a car?
Dear God, Can I please have a frozen razcoke?
(I think that's a rasberry frozen coke...)
Dear God, You are fantiactial at making stuff.
Dear God, Please forgive the Titans for loosing the footy game.
*Now I don't know if God was listening or not but I'd really love to know what that kid did on the weekend that was so bad.
The mind boggles.
