My mother taught us :
Now I lay me down to sleep
Bag of candy at my feet
If I die before I wake
You'll know it was of tummy ache
.
She wasn't religious.

No, my gosh no. My dad= flaming Atheist. He got a kick out of marching us all down escalators with him singing at the top of his lungs "Onward Christian Soldiers!".

In primary school, we were expected to say, Our Father, who art in heaven etc.
My friend and I used to say, Our Father, who aren't in heaven, Harold be thy name ...

LOL, Yes, maybe once or twice when I was little. Both of my parents continued to search for spiritual community to raise us in. I was 9 when they found the Unitarian congregation of freethinking humanists. Mom's mom used to send baptist stuff as kids and I was the only one baptised (eldest), Episcopal. Dad became more athiest and mom was more agnostic, feeling The Mother was her 'Diety', much as I do. They have both passed on now and I'm happy to say they had a life well lived and were a great example in how searching for meaning and thinking for yourself makes a happy life.

We had to say the prayers, but could already be in bed. I, too, quit as soon as they stopped 'tucking us in.' I decided when I was really young (about when I was 5) that nobody was listening to what I said anyway, so what was the point? I made the same decision about Santa at about the same age. I went to far as to accuse my parents of being liars for trying to make us believe. It didn't go down well.

In our family we were required to recite the Rosary every night.

Yup. Both of them. And praying at dinners with extended family. I hated every second if it.

With apologies to AA Milne:-

Little boy kneels at the foot of the stairs
Clutched in his tiny hand, scissors and hairs.
Well, Well! Fancy that!
Christopher Robin has neutered the cat.

(written by an Aussie friend of mine about 50 years ago!)

I only had to pray at meals.

All prayers growing up in my parents home were freestyle and they seemed to go on forever, many a dinner ruined while the 5 minute mini sermon was given and the food went cold, before bed was the same and at church it would sometimes get so long winded with some jack ass thanking god for the bees and the flowers and for putting up with us sinful sorry ass excuses for god's children, blah, blah, blah. If you got restless as little kids do in such circumstances you could look forward to one of those pinches where a parent grabs a hunk of flesh on your arm or leg and gives it a twist - don't even think about crying out.
The Lord's Prayer and that little ditty about Now I lay me down to sleep were quick and dirty dreams that I could only wish for. It's all just programming of children so they will be obedient little sheep.

They tried to make me, I refused.
When they finally realized beating my ass wouldn't work, they gave up. But, they still made me go to mass every Sunday.

I did remember that i had to recite that very same prayer, but i was never forced to do it; merely instructed that it was something that should be done. As such, i viewed it as nothing more than something my parents told me to do, so I grew out of it when i was about 5 years old. Both of my parents believe in God, but they've never forced their beliefs on me and my belief system is something they let me decide on my own. They have no issue with me being atheist, thankfully.

I feel so lucky that I escaped this. It's like a subtle form of child abuse. Was not believing an option?

With four kids in six years, my parents hired a high school girl to supervise the three oldest children during dinner and baths, while Mom fed and bathed the baby. Dad was off playing jazz trumpet in the evening.

Our only bedtime ritual was curling up in my parent's big bed- with two kids on each side of Mom- while Mom read us a bedtime story. We loved the "Wizard of Oz" series, "Little House in the Big Woods" series and more.

Reading with Mom was a favorite childhood memory. I did the same with my daughter.

That sounds extremely oppressive. I'm glad you survived it. We did the 'Now I lay me down to sleep' prayer too. But Dad was only interested in religion because it was respectable and Mum hated the church because it had no respect for women so they lost interest before we reached our teenage years.

Only at my babysitters. She would make us pray before food, before bed, and naptime.

Yes, but I had to recite the lord's prayer from the age of 5 till 15. After that The vile woman who made me finally died.

Exactly the same prayer as me..... Total bullshit.... My turning point was when the Sunday school teachers were lying about Santa Claus......

Oh yes, that exact prayer until i was about 12 and refused. I still remember it word for word, even though I am now an atheist.

We were told to early on, but by the time they got down on the totem pole #9 to me we were saying "Now Iie me down to sleep, a bag of peanuts at my feet, if I should die before I wake I hope I die from a belly ache". The three boys after me all turned out atheist.