amazing grace!!

[crisgal]

has anyone any suggestions for a "grace" type poem for my pre-schoolers to say before snacktime?

I don't want it to be religious.

At the moment they say:

"Thank you for the world so sweet

Thank you for the food we eat

Thank you for the birds that sing

Thank you God for everything!"

Has to be said in your bestest sing-song voice to get the real effect! Anyway, we are sick of it, but only know of religious alternatives. I was hoping to pinch someone else's words before trying to write something myself.

[rojash]

A non-religious grace would be a tautology. For those who believe, (and I'm not one) grace is a way of thanking God for the food before you, so if you take God out of the equation, what is the point in saying anything at all?

[Marsh]

Here's a couple.

Clean of hands and clean of face,
I sit me down to say my grace.
God bless the food that here we see,
God bless you and God bless me.

And

Thank you, God, for rain and sun
And all the plants that grow.
Thank you for our daily food
And friends who love us so.

[crisgal]

well, rojash, I want the children to be grateful that we are all together with our friends having something to eat - although not grateful to the big G. Just so that we can perhaps recognise that there are children in the world without enough to eat.

Also, it's a kind of signal for the children to sit down  nicely and enjoy chatting quietly to their friends whilst having a snack. It "starts" our snacktime.

I'll search "tautology" (aren't you clever!) on google and see what comes up.

[crisgal]

just found out what tautology means!

I agree with you rojash it would be, but I didn't know how else to describe what I meant.

[Kingaroo]

crisga, I am in the same boat as you. I do feel gratitude, whether or not it is to some being/s who can hear my thanks.

When my kids were preschoolers we said

We love our bread
We love our butter
But most of all
We love each other

When they got to school age, we added this one on the front end:

We give thanks for this food
For those who cooked it
And those who grew it
For the wind and the rain and the sun above
But most of all for those we love.

When they are teens, I hope to introduce them to my own favorite grace, which is a little much for young kids:

All life is one
And everything that lives is holy.
Plants, animals and people
All must eat to live
and to nourish one another.
We bless the lives that have died to give us this food.
Let us eat together,
Resolving by our work to pay the debt of our existence.
(author John Bennett)

[Trillipse]

"tautology"? rojash, i think we need a re-think: that's the opposite of the definition they taught us in philosophy lectures. have they been lying to me all this time?

"rich millionaire", now *that's* a tautology.

[ian.miller]

I think Rojash meant Oxymoron rather than tautology.

oxy moron - 2 statements that can't be true when placed together e.g. military inteligence, fresh frozen food etc etc

tautology - saying the same thing twice: rich millionaire, PIN number, unfair victimisation etc etc

[Trillipse]

indeed - as my high school english teacher would (and i still prefer) to pronounce it  - Ogs im er un. lovely.

[phoenixcml]

My grandchildren taught me these:

The Lord is good to me

and so I thank the Lord

For giving me, the things I need

The sun and the moon and the apple seed

The Lord is good to me

 

Another is:

Thank you God for giving us food

(as they raise their hands up like superman)

Thank you God for giving us food

(moving hands & arms to the right)

For the friends that we meet & the food that we eat

(moving hands & arms left and to the right)

Thank you God for giving us food

(lowering arms)

AMEN