When you have children in primary, you are dealing with many issues along with teaching them the gospel. It can be easy to push aside the most important things to fit in the busy to do lists that come with parenting. It is important to find ways to incorporate gospel teaching into the every day experiences that you are having. Here are five easy ways to do this.
1) When you are talking about a situation that your child may be experiencing at school, or with their friends try to relate it back to the gospel. You can talk about Joseph standing up for his beliefs to the king when they are struggling with that. You can illustrate the importance of finding good friends with the stories of the sons of Mosiah and Alma the Younger, and the stories of Shadrach, Meshach and Adednego.
2) As you are rushing from place to place you can choose to play Primary songs or church music in the car. This will help to bring the spirit into your every day lives. It can help to reduce the squabbles that your children have. It will also teach your children the Primary songs and hymns.
3) Make sure you aren’t brushing over the essentials. Have you ever walked out the door and realized that you forgot family prayer or scripture study. Your children need this extra time. It is important that you make this happen every day. It is even worth missing the bus over.
4) Take the time to role-play situations with your children. This can be done over dinner or as your drive from place to place. As you discuss the expected behavior, and the reasons why it is expected, you can bring the gospel into the discussions. This is a great way to help your children to see how the gospel applies to their lives.
5) Make sure that you take time to serve others each week. This can be done as a family or you may decide to have a special service date that you do with one child each week. These can be simple acts, such as making a card, dropping off dinner or even performing small acts of service for other family members. This really helps the children to begin to understand the importance of helping and loving others.
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