On Sunday, the whole Church proclaimed the joy of the Resurrection. Now is a good time to reflect on the importance of the Easter season with our children, because the Easter holiday isn’t just one day — it lasts 50 days, until Pentecost!

After the anticipation of Lent, Easter Sunday can seem like the final culmination — but then what? Does it mean that everything goes back to being the same as it was before Lent? We typically encourage children to make spiritual progress during Lent, and then … nothing more. It all comes to an end on Easter Sunday, as if the days after Easter were less important than the days before it. How can we help our children to not merely “return” to the days before Lent? Here we offer a little advice on keeping our children in the light of Easter during the entire 50 days of Easter time. 

Let’s think about our Lenten resolutions, those we decided on as a family and the ones we did individually. Haltingly, with the help of Divine Mercy, we progressed in prayer, detachment, loving God and our brothers and sisters. So what can we do, exactly, to consolidate this progress so it doesn’t deflate like a soufflé taken out of the oven too early? We can encourage our children to think seriously about this, being very clear that Lent and Easter are distinct holy seasons. One example you can use: the part of Lent that often makes the biggest impact on children is giving something up … and what they love most about Easter is when they can have that pleasure again. 

But we can help our children understand that Lent wasn’t just about giving things up and that their Lenten efforts can continue into Easter time by continuing to invite more of God into our life.

Read more at Aleteia