Family Home Evenings lately have been so frustrating. . . which age group do we cater to? How do we teach the boys the doctrine they need with Tessa's attention span and need for constant attention? How do we teach the gospel on Tessa's level without compromising fortifying the boys with the spiritual power they need? Doing a little of both didn't seem doable because of attention spans and older kids' unwillingness to have longer FHE's. Alternating weeks wouldn't provide the consistency they all need for gospel instruction. Something had to be done. Our solution? Mini Meetings. They are 5 minutes long--we set a timer. A mini candy bar is given at the end of each meeting. Lessons are always given by me and only the boys attend. Tom takes the girls so we can be uninterrupted. The topics vary, but all carry a theme. My goal is to teach the boys the importance of having the spirit in their lives. We've talked about how to qualify for it, how to experience it in abundance, how to discern when the spirit is speaking to you, the fruits of the spirit and how it has been prophesied that 'your sons. . .shall prophesy. . .and your young men shall see visions' (Joel 2:28) and a few other similar threads. We meet every Sunday afternoon. In FHE we now teach a lesson from the nursery manual for Tessa. It has been much better. . .they are shorter so those who are not catered to doctrinally can attend without much complaint. And it gives them the opportunity to teach on a different level than they are used to teaching. I'm not sure how long this will be the solution, but for now it is working and I'm thankful for that.
My family
My family, minus Cache :(
President Thomas S. Monson
My brothers and sisters, we are surrounded by those in need of our attention, our encouragement, our support, our comfort, our kindness—be they family members, friends, acquaintances, or strangers. We are the Lord’s hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and to lift His children. He is dependent upon each of us.
Richard G. Scott
Your agency, the right to make choices, is not given so that you can get what you want. This divine gift is provided so that you will choose what your Father in Heaven wants for you. That way He can lead you to become all that He intends you to be. That path leads to glorious joy and happiness.
5 comments:
Great idea!
We need mini meetings too. Thanks for the idea!
Our stake president spoke on this very thing at our stake conference on Sunday. They have older children and then they adopted a little girl from Russia 5 years ago. She is now 9 years old and has learning disabilities. He says they have separate FHEs for different members of their family. One night this summer they did 5 separate FHEs to accommodate their married daughter with her son, then their older kids and their youngest daughter because of schedules and interest levels. He says it's not for everyone, but they want to make the effort to have FHE and reach all of their kids. I think your mini lessons are a great idea.
Beautiful!
One of the things I love about you is that you are always seeking and searching for answers to difficult questions. I like the 'out of the box' ideas you use regularly. Thanks for sharing.
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