Nursery provides an important service for the members of the church. Many people mistakenly look at nursery class as a simple babysitting class, so that the parents of toddlers can teach or attend their classes. This is not the case. Nursery is designed to help prepare the toddlers to sit still and learn in Primary. The lessons also teach the basics of the gospel. They emphasize how much God loves each of the little children. This is a wonderful foundation to be teaching the children.
If you are teaching nursery, it is important to approach the calling with a positive attitude, patience and love. It is also important to be consistent. Children this age have a difficult time with change, and so you need to be at church as much as you possibly can. You should also arrive early enough so that you can set up the classroom ahead of time if possible.
Another key to making nursery successful is to establish a schedule and stick to it. The children will become used to cleaning up, eating, art time and lesson each week. It helps them if these are consistently done in the same order. Although it may seem difficult to have everyone sit down to listen to the lesson, it is important that you do this each week. It makes a big difference in how well the children sit and pay attention later on.
It is also important to watch the children closely. At times children may become aggressive towards each other and act out. It is important that you are watching so you can prevent these instances. If you have a particularly difficult child, you may want to assign one nursery leader to monitor him specifically. Distraction techniques and positive reinforcement really do make a big difference
As a parent, I am grateful for those serving in Nursery. It is a very isolated calling, but I am grateful that the Nursery leaders in my ward are willing to serve. I know that Nursery lays important foundations for the rest of Primary time.
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