At what age do you begin to encourage your children to complete personal scripture study on their own? The answer may vary according to the child, but I recommend that you encourage this as soon as your child is able to read on his own. You may want to have your child start by reading the easy versions published by the church, but I would not encourage this for long. Your child may become dependent on the readers.
Personally, I began personal scripture study when I was eight years old. I was challenged by my stake president to read the entire Book of Mormon by the end of the year. He had all the youth over the age of eight come to a special session of Stake Conference and issued the challenge. I took him up on the challenge and was able to complete the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. This challenge helped me to form the daily habit of scripture study that has helped me through my life. Often we do a disservice to our children by underestimating what they are truly capable of achieving. I am grateful that my stake president did not do that to me.
Here are five tips to help your children to begin to study the scriptures on their own.
1) Encourage your children to set time aside to read the scriptures on their own. You may want to provide a sticker chart or some way of marking off the days that they have read. You may also want to set a length of time to read, or have them read a chapter a day. If your child has problems with reading comprehension or reading in general you may want to read aloud with your child to complete this. Do not make the goal more challenging then it should be.
2) You can have a family challenge. This would work best if it were a team effort. You receive a reward when every family member has studied for ten days in a row. It is important that the requirements be adaptable from youngest to oldest. It is not fair to expect the same amount and depth of study from your primary children, as your teenagers.
3) You may want to have a family home evening that talks about how to mark the scriptures. You can also talk about how to use the footnotes and a dictionary if you do not understand something. You may suggest that each person keep a daily journal of what he has read, and how he felt as they have studied. You may also want to demonstrate this as you read the scriptures as a family.
4) One important thing is to buy your child his own set of scriptures. It is essential that each family member have his own set, so that he can study and read them. If your child does not have his own set, he has less likely to study on his own. You can also give your child his own set of the easy readers.
5) It is important to model the behavior you want your children to follow. If you would like them to develop this habit, they need to know that it is a habit you have as well. You do not need to make it a big deal, but they should see you studying the scriptures as well.
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Primary Time: Personal Scripture Study