Praying the Rosary with a 3-Year-Old

I usually let my son stay up late at night with me, so he sleeping in late in the mornings. This leaves me the first few hours of the day to pray, write, and things like that while he is still asleep. 

He woke up early this morning and knocked on the door before I even got up, so I let him join me for my morning prayers, which is praying the Morning Offering, Angelus, and a decade of the Rosary.

I gave him a plastic rosary that had came with other things I ordered a while back, and showed him how to pray and use the beads to count. He didn't quite get that yet, but he did try for close to a decade and it didn't take him very long to join in and repeat "Hail Mary" with me, not the whole prayer yet, but the first couple words are a start.

He did much better than I had expected. It was cute watching him kneel beside me at the bed, without being taught. He doesn't know much of the prayers yet, but he did repeat a little bit. 

After a bit, he got a little restless, and spent his time flipping around and rolling or the bed making aces at me while I tried to concentrate on the other Mysteries. This annoyed me a little at first, but then I found the humor in it and imagined Our Blessed Mother watching her Son Jesus grow up and how she must have laughed and took joy in his antics as a child as well.

I took a moment to just laugh a little and take joy in my son and in the time together, and to think of the benefits that he will gain from prayer, even while he is too young to participate fully. After that, I was able to relax and focus more as I finished praying, and having him there seemed more of a gift than a distraction.

I think I might start praying with him more, since he seems eager to learn, starting with a decade at a time and then adding more as he seems ready.