So, our primary is very small as I’ve mentioned before. Every kid usually gets more than his or her fair share of chances to do the talk, scripture and prayers in primary. But, I noticed a trend in our ward. There was a small handful of kids that kept volunteering for the talk and scripture each week, but would come unprepared the following week. This was frustrating me. The prior presidency told me that they always had a talk on hand in case a child came unprepared, but it had turned into every single week we were reading talks from the Friend for our opening exercises instead of the children preparing talks of their own.
So, I made a treat bag. I debated about doing this because I thought it might make some of the children feel bad if they came unprepared, but it has been working! We are trying to focus on positive reinforcement instead of negative. The treat bag has both edible treats, and other little goodies like stickers, pencils, etc. If they come prepared, they get to pick something out of the bag at the end of Primary.
There are drawbacks though. I want the children to learn the point. I have told them that we won’t continue the treat bag all year, but only for a short time. But, I can tell that many are volunteering just so they can get the treat. I hope that when we decide to discontinue the treat bag (after every child has gotten a treat at least once) that they will still recognize the point of participating and preparing for opening exercises.
And, the point is that we want them to learn how to be better leaders. We want them to be able to say a prayer in public, or get used to speaking in public. Starting them at such a young age is a great way to help them get over those fears of speaking in front of others. And, of course, we want them to feel the spirit.
While it has its drawbacks, I will say that we have not had a child come unprepared since. However, the ones that were constantly volunteering for talks are volunteering for easier things now like prayers. But, hopefully, they will learn that it is important to be prepared and there are blessings for doing so.