The next topic in the “For the Strength of Youth” Guide is family. This can be a fun topic to plan a family home evening lesson and activity on. You know what is best for your family, and so you should prepare to teach according to the way that you feel prompted.
You can open your lesson by reading the section on families in the “For the Strength of Youth” pamphlet. As a family discuss what the guide says about families and what each person’s responsibility is to help improve family life. Be sure that you talk about supporting other family members by being encouraging, rather than being negative. If fighting is an issue between your children, you can talk about things the children can do to stop fighting. This could include walking away from a tense situation, counting to ten before responding, and complimenting each member of your family every day. This would be a good opportunity to talk about chores and individual responsibilities in your family. Read Ephesians 6:1-3. Since this lesson is on family unity be sure to take time this week to just enjoy each other’s company. For an activity after the lesson you can play board games or go outside and play a game of basketball or baseball. You can have the family plan some extra time together for over the weekend. You could take your kids to a movie or a museum, or if the weather permits go for a hike.
If you have young children at home, you may want to start the lesson by showing a picture of your family together. Ask your children what they are seeing. Then ask them if they think families are important. Summarize the section on families for your children. You can talk about how they can help the family be happy. Talk about the way that you treat each other, and that each family member needs to help out with the chores. In “The Friend” you can find a game and story ideas in “Sharing Time: I Will!” In “Sharing Time: My Family” there is a craft which you can make as family. After you make the craft you are supposed to do secret good deeds for members of the family and pass it on to whomever you helped. You could see how many times you could pass these around during the week. Plan to spend some extra time together as a family this week.
If you are having an adult only family home evening you should take the time to reread “The Family A Proclamation to the World.” You can also read and discuss L. Tom Perry’s talk “The Importance of Family” and M. Russell Ballard’s talk “What Matters Most Is What Lasts Longest.” If you have grandchildren you can discuss ways that you can help support your children in forming and building their families. If you have no children you can discuss ways to help members in your family build their family relationships. You can also discuss ways that you can help ward members and those in your community to build stronger family relationships.
A great song is “Families Can Be Together Forever” page 188 and “Love Is Spoken Here” page 190 in the Children’s Songbook. Remember to have a treat at then end of the lesson. It would be a good idea to follow through on the chores and positive behavior during the week.