Helping Your Kids Prepare for First Confession
I didn’t know that this Sacrament is a place of Victory? Did you?
As a cradle Catholic, I have grown up believing that in confession, Jesus forgives me, He cleanses my soul from sin, and He heals me. But what I hadn’t heard is what the Sacrament of Reconciliation looks like from Jesus’ point of view! Nor had I ever really thought about what the priest might be experiencing! I found this video by Fr. Mike Schmitz which explains both these points of view and I was truly warmed to find the BEAUTIFUL LOVE extended to us from God and also from our priests. I found watching this so powerful. I think it’s a good place to start for all those given the task of explaining the Sacrament of Confession to young children. Enjoy!
For this sacrament to be VALID there must be 3 things that happen:
- You must be genuinely sorry.
- You need to confess your sins out loud to a priest in person.
- You must perform whatever penance the priest prescribes
All this is put together nicely in this short video:

Explain that our sins hurt God, and we need to make up with Him..
You can explain that God created us to live our lives in complete harmony with Him by being good in thought, word and deed. God knows that we sometimes say, do and think in ways that aren’t loving, and this breaks our relationship with Him. These sins will keep us from going to Heaven and so God in His kindness has given us the Sacrament of Reconciliation to fix our relationship; to wash away our sins forever from our soul (Absolution) and to keep us on the path to Heaven 😊.
Children also need to know the term: 'being in a State of Grace'. This means that they haven't committed any mortal sins. We all need to be in a State of Grace before we can receive Holy Communion. Of course, the purest souls, who are closest to God, would be those who are sinless...but for most of us this may be a lifetime's work! Thank God there is the Sacrament of Reconciliation!
And how do we show our love for God and remain in complete harmony with Him? By keeping the commandments that He revealed to the Israelites through Moses on Mount Sinai:
“If you love Me, you will keep my commandments”
John 14:15 The New Jerusalem Bible
So, by this stage in your child’s life, he or she will have already experienced being forgiven by mummy or daddy, who loves them. They will also have experienced saying “Sorry” (and meaning it) for hurting or upsetting you. So, for them, it will be an easy stretch to translate this to their relationship with their loving God.
It would also be good to remind them how much Jesus loves them. First, He created the entire Universe, which includes our planet Earth, so that we could enjoy being alive with our family and friends while we learn how to grow close to God. Then Jesus showed His UBER love for us by dying on the cross, so that we could all join Him one day in Heaven forever!
After the Sacrament
I don’t know about you but for a long time - years – I couldn’t understand why sometimes I felt ‘lighter internally’ with a new joy and peace after receiving the Sacrament of Confession and at other times I didn’t feel anything? Eventually, I realised that it’s like anything that we experience in the spiritual world as a human being…sometimes there are lovely feelings and sometimes…there just aren’t!
Sometimes, I didn’t feel sorry enough for my sins and other times I did…all we can do is to try our best to see the gravity of what we have done. That’s all our children can do too. I must admit that as I have gotten older, I seem to be able to see and feel the weight of what I have done…more and more.

One couple’s experience with their children
Listen to this couple’s experience of getting their children ready for this Sacrament:
This is one of the video trailer’s which shows Felicity asking questions:
Kids ask a lot of questions. Here are two common ones:
Kids questions
“Why do I have to confess my sins?”
This command to forgive sins is given by Jesus to His Apostles in John 20:21-23:
“As the Father sent Me, so am I sending you”
After saying this He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins; they are retained.”
The New Jerusalem Bible
“But our priest is not an Apostle, so how come he can forgive sins?”
As Jesus gave authority to the Apostles to ‘stand in’ for Him, in the same way the Apostles gave authority to the priests who came after them to do the same. They are all acting in Persona Christi….or ‘as if they were the person of Christ’. It is Christ who does the forgiving, not the priest.
These questions plus others are beautifully answered in this cartoon video for kids. I think this is a really good video to show your children as they prepare to make their First Sacrament of Reconciliation.

I hope this Reflection has been supportive to you and to your child/ little person preparing to make this victorious sacrament!
