This month the theme for Sharing Time in Primary is “Keep the Commandments.” This is a great theme to incorporate into what you are teaching your children this month. The article in “The Friend” shares the story of Daniel and how he and his friends stood up King Nebuchadnezzar by only eating the healthy foods they were taught to. It talks about how they were blessed for doing that. You can find a link to flannel board pictures for this story here.
The article also has a page that you can print out with cards that list each of the “My Gospel Standards” that the children are supposed to learn in Primary. You can play the game suggested in the article during family home evening. You may want to choose one or two standards to work on during the week, and then discuss how each family member did at dinner each night.
As a family you may want to discuss the importance of keeping the commandments. You can have your children list the commandments or gospel standards that they know and right them down a piece of poster board. As you observe your children keeping a certain commandment you may want to put a sticker next to that commandment or gospel standard. Be sure to praise your child for her hard work. You may set a family goal to earn a set number of stickers by the end of the month in order to earn a reward. This activity is good because it focuses on positive behavior that your child is already doing. So often we focus on the negative instead of the positive.
The song which the children are learning this month is “Dearest Children God Is Near You.” This can be found in “Hymns” on page 96. Since it is a hymn, try to plan extra time to practice the song with your children. It is wonderful when the children learn the hymns because it helps them to sing during Sacrament meeting.