As soon as I ask Sari, “Did you daven yet?” I know I goofed. Just a minute ago, I peeked into the living room and spied her spinning on the glider, perusing a magazine. Why did I think she’d been davening? Because she told me she was going to. Okay, but knowing Sari as I do, I should have realized. My third grader does not like davening. Not in school and not at home.

This doesn’t faze me. I recall a shiur I once heard by Rabbi Shimshon Pincus. A parent asked him, “What’s wrong with my child? He doesn’t enjoy davening.” To which Rav Pincus, in his classic style, answered. “He’s a little kid. There would be something wrong with him if he did enjoy it.” So, I’m not worried about Sari; I’m sure her tefila will come with time. I try to gently encourage her to open her siddur on Shabbos and Sunday, when she’s home from school, and I don’t sense any resentment on her part. It’s just that she won’t initiate davening on her own, and when she has a chance, she’ll try to wiggle out of it – like the way she’s trying now.