“What’s in it for me?” is the reason your kids will or won’t be Catholic after they leave your house, and this is the ULTIMATE reason all people choose Christianity. It’s not to “fit in” with the Church crowd, it’s not because great-grandpappy was Catholic, or anything else. You should emphasize the benefits of being Christian to your kids.

Here is a partial list I taught mine:

1. You can get an eternity of happiness in Heaven and avoid an eternity of misery in Hell. This, of course, is the most important benefit of Christianity and should never be trivialized or forgotten.

2. If you follow Christian morality, you will avoid many life-destroying problems and get plenty of Earthly benefits. For example, you will not get an STD, “need” an abortion, or be killed by the husband of the woman with whom you committed adultery. You will not kill somebody else while driving drunk or lose your license/job/reputation/peace-of-mind afterward. You will not end up in prison for stealing. You will get at least one day a week off from work. You will not end friendships when people find out you have lied about them behind their back. Decent people will be willing to associate with you. You will be able to obtain positions of trust in society, etc.

I once had to take my family to a funeral of a friend’s young kid who died after doing heroin. After the awful event was over, I made it a point to explain to my kids that practicing Christian morality saves you from that fate. If you think about it, it saves you from plenty of other bad fates as well.

3. Christians get things through prayer that they would not have ordinarily had. If you’ve ever prayed for something and had your prayer answered, you know what I am talking about. Etc.