Last night, we had a family home evening for the kiddos. My husband and I take turns because our kids are so little that they can’t really prepare a lesson yet. It was a simple one, but it was pertinent to our lives right now. When preparing a family home evening for kids that are so little, it is challenging. My son, who is 2 1/2 has a very short attention span these days. If it’s not making noise, a super hero, or flashing bright lights, he’s not interested. But, last night I was able to captivate them for a short time.
We are having another baby in a few weeks. My oldest gets it for sure. She is 5. But, my youngest thinks he gets it, but not sure if he does. Lately, he’s been hanging on my neck quite a bit more, and hugging me, following me around, and just giving me lots of love. I’m eating it up. But, part of me thinks maybe he does know what is going on. So, we had a family home evening on welcoming a new baby into the family. I found several great articles on the subject, including this one previously written here at families.com. Since our lessons tend to be 10 minutes or less, I had to adapt quite a bit, but we came up with a short, and sweet one.
We started like some of the suggestions above with the song, “I am a Child of God”. We talked about where we came from before we lived here. They knew, and that made me happy. Then, I asked them what kinds of things the baby would need when he got here. They listed several ideas. I ran across this blog that has a cute scavenger hunt idea if you have older children, or children that maybe just have a longer attention span than mine! We didn’t do the scavenger hunt, but I know lots of kids would love this. Then, I grabbed their attention with pulling out their baby books. They loved this! My 5 year old giggled over everything I told her about when she was a baby. We looked at their footprints from the hospital, and bracelets they wore. Pictures of me when I was pregnant, and their ultrasound pictures. They were mesmerized.
In closing, I just told them how Heavenly Father will bless me and Daddy, and them with enough love for the new baby. And, that their job when he gets here will be to love him. I asked them how they could do that and they gave me their ideas, like helping Mommy take care of him, and giving lots of hugs and kisses.
Family home evening is truly inspired. I believe that. Just talking to them and helping them know what to expect has to ease everyone’s concerns. Especially mine.
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