At what age should children be told to pray?

The Prophet ﷺ said: "Command your children to pray when they are seven years old, and discipline them for it when they are ten, and separate them in their beds" (Abū Dāwūd 495, ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ). Prayer only becomes obligatory upon a child at puberty, so these years are a training period in which the parent teaches, reminds, and makes the prayer beloved and easy. The "discipline" at ten is light and corrective — the fuqahāʾ stipulate that it must not injure, must avoid the face, and must never be humiliating; the goal is a child who prays willingly, not one who prays out of fear of his father. Allah commanded His Prophet: "And enjoin prayer upon your family and be steadfast therein" (Qur'an 20:132), and He said: "O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire" (Qur'an 66:6) — so the parent's own consistency is the strongest teacher.

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