General Conference

[bunnzy]

Well, i thought with General Conference coming up, it might be good to start this topic.

I am talking about ALL age groups here. from toddlers to teens. (yes Yed, including your darling autistic boy)

How do we keep children reverent... especially when the prophet speaks? How do we get them to get 'something' out of the spirit and the talks? How do we motivate them to WANT to be there? (my stepkids didnt even want to go to their own primary presentation)

The only thing i can think of is a game of 'conference bingo' using word like joseph smith, Book of Mormon, faith, and testimony for example. You get them to play bingo until they line it up (each time they use a lolly to cover the word) when they line it up, they get the lollies. My mum got this game when she worked in a church book shop in CA. but you cant really get them here in aus (unless you ship it over, and it wont get here in time now.) It gets the kids to listen to what the speakers are saying, keeps them quiet, and gives them a reward at the end.

What other ideas do you guys have?

[jadams_4040]

Well, i thought with General Conference coming up, it might be good to start this topic.

I am talking about ALL age groups here. from toddlers to teens. (yes Yed, including your darling autistic boy)

How do we keep children reverent... especially when the prophet speaks? How do we get them to get 'something' out of the spirit and the talks? How do we motivate them to WANT to be there? (my stepkids didnt even want to go to their own primary presentation)

The only thing i can think of is a game of 'conference bingo' using word like joseph smith, Book of Mormon, faith, and testimony for example. You get them to play bingo until they line it up (each time they use a lolly to cover the word) when they line it up, they get the lollies. My mum got this game when she worked in a church book shop in CA. but you cant really get them here in aus (unless you ship it over, and it wont get here in time now.) It gets the kids to listen to what the speakers are saying, keeps them quiet, and gives them a reward at the end.

What other ideas do you guys have?

Having allready raised and done our "duty" for 5 kids whom are now grown, it sounds as if yer a very good and concerned

parent whom has some very well thought out parenting tactics! From my experiance the only thing you can do is just

excatly what you are doing, "keep trying" ssooo many parents in todays world do not put forth the continual effort it

requires to raise a child into adulthood, parents get tired. thats when kids go bad. You are a very good parent, And i hope

and pray that when your kids have families of there own that your excample of the truth directs there lives.

thats the number one thing you can possibly teach them. And now we are going to watch a nice QUITE movie,cause all

our kids are now not at home anymore!!! WWhhoooo--HHooooo!

[bunnzy]

Thank you for the compliments, its a hard thing for me to be a parent. I am only 22 and have 3 stepkids, two girls, 12 and 10 and an 8yr old boy. I also had a baby last december. I have suffered from depression before and after i got married as well, so things are difficult that way also. So compliments like this mean alot to me.

[Lolgirl]

Well that is a good idea.what they did with us was...well....they gave us sweets...(ahh bribery still works some days)

i always paid attention the speeches I found most captivating.

And I'm proud that your trying especially hard bunnzy.Keep it up!

[the_jason]

My brother started this with his daughter, and we've done the same with our kids. Honestly, we let them go play while we're watching conference. Sitting for 2 straight hours is hard for anyone, let alone a 4 and 2 year old. When President Hinckley speaks, however, we require them to sit and listen to him. We even quiz my daughter, the 4 year old, about things he said. This has worked great for us for several reasons. 1. They know who the prophet is and what he asks us to do. 2. Even though they are young they can still learn something from conference. 3. It will be easier for them to sit through it when they are older since we've introduced it to them at a young age.

[MorningStar]

Our kids are 8, 5, and 3. Last year we started going to the chapel to watch conference because it wasn't working listening to it at home. On Saturday, we go to lunch between conference sessions and they really like that. We bring coloring stuff for them and encourage them to draw about what they hear. Our three-year-old falls asleep. Last year our oldest son sat there and wrote lyrics from primary songs on a notebook. :) For Sunday, I want to have some fun snacks and a lunch they will really like between sessions to make it more special for them. I've been cleaning a lot this week to get the house nice and decluttered so we can enjoy conference weekend more. Then it can also be a weekend where I don't ask them to do much of anything.

[fish4kitty]

One comment....Duct tape. It comes in so many colors now that you probably could find it in a color to match there clothes.

In all seriousness, we use the game of When the speaker says certain words or phrases we get a piece of candy or something in that line. Seems to make them pay attention.