Inspirational Parenting Quotes

Quotes I find inspirational as a parent:

"Discipline is helping a child solve a problem.  Punishment is making a child suffer for having a problem.  To raise problem solvers, focus on solutions not retribution." L.R. Knost

"The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice." Peggy O'Mara

"It is vital that our children know that they are loved and safe at home." Quentin L. Cook

"Children are not a distraction from more important work.  They are the most important work." CS Lewis

"He who gives money
GIVES MUCH;
he who gives time
GIVES MORE;
he who gives of himself
GIVES ALL."  President Thomas S. Monson

"No other success can compensate for failure in the home." President David O. McKay

"The most important of the Lord's work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own homes." President Harold B. Lee

"We call upon the women of the Church to stand together for righteousness.  They must begin in their own home.  They can teach it in their classes.  They can voice it in their communities.  They must be the teachers and the guardians of their daughters.  Those daughters must be taught in the Primary and in the classes of the Young Women of the values of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When you save a girl, you save generations. She will grow in strength and righteousness.  She will marry in the house of the Lord.  She will teach her children the ways of truth.  They will walk in her paths and will similarly teach their children."  President Gordon B. Hinckley

"Mothers in Zion, your God-given roles are so vital to your own exaltation and to the salvation and exaltation of your family.  A child needs a mother more than all the things money can buy.  Spending time with your children is the greatest gift of all."  Ezra Taft Benson

"A child spells love T-I-M-E."

"Whenever a woman strengthens the faith of a child, she contributes to the strength of a family-now and in the future." (Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and work of Relief Society)

"Please excuse this mess, we're busy making memories."
"This house is clean enough to be healthy, messy enough to be happy."

"Never chooose house over hearts." Lisa Jacobson

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." Thomas S. Monson

"The best way to make children be good is to make them happy." Oscar Wilde

"The goal is not to have your child outwardly conform to your standards, but rather to be changed from the inside out." Mary Ellen Imperfect Homemaking

When your child is acting out in public, ask yourself these 6 questions (from The Purposeful Mom blog):

• Am I consistent in my teaching/discipline at home before we go out in public?
• Am I preparing my child for wherever we’re going so they know what’s expected of them before we get there?
• Is my child tired, hungry, needing some time just to sit by mom and get control or in need of discipline?
• Have I planned for how I’m going to handle things if they get out of control? Or even if we’re just encountering an embarrassing situation?
• Am I overreacting because I’m afraid of another mom judging my mothering skills? 
• Is my child really doing something foolish? Or just being childish and silly {isn’t morally wrong or bringing harm to anyone}?

Sunday School Teaching Helps

Use:

• Missionary stories and real life experiences
• Conference Addresses
• Scripture References
• Preach My Gospel
• "deep thoughts"/ conversation starters
• topic cards for study circles

Give:

• Teaching/ study assignments for students
• Weekly challenges
• Interactive journals
• Take home quotes

Make it interesting by:

• Making two people 'companions' for studying (like missionaries)
• Split into groups by dividing the class with an imaginary line, dividing by counting off (1-2-1-2) and grouping the ones together and the twos together (or count off by 3's if 3 groups are needed)
• Playing a game that challenges them to understand the topic better, contribute to the lesson, or apply the principle.
• Rearranging the seating
• Use "groups" or "companions" to study a portion of the lesson during class time and share what they have learned with the rest of the class.
• 
  

Sunday School Lesson February 2015 "Why is learning an important part of Heavenly Father's plan?"

This ended up being a two part lesson as well.  I get such fantastic input from the kids that I'm often not able to get through everything I've prepared.  Sometimes this is fine, other times I feel like they need the other stuff I have prepared, so I continue on with it.  That was certainly the case this time, since learning is why we are here on earth and it's also why we come to Sunday School!

After opening with prayer and reviewing how we recognized Heavenly Father's hand this past week, I asked the question, "Why is LEARNING an important part of Heavenly Father's plan?  I got very little response, so we moved right into reading the scriptures found in 2 Nehpi 28:27-30, and then D&C 98:1-12.  I asked what was common between those scriptures that were read, and the response was that we learn precept on precept.  We discussed what that means (learning a little at a time).  I used the analogies of teaching a Kindergarner trigonometry vs. an adult with only very basic math skills vs. a college student or high school student with advanced math skills.  We talked about age and mental capacity, then about the learning required and the understanding required to be able to learn that harder information and to know how to apply it.

I then asked, "Who can tell me what the plan of salvation is?"  I got TONS of partially correct answers..bits and pieces of what the plan of salvation is.  I asked, "Why do you think you are learning about the plan of salvation today when most of you have probably heard about it all your lives?"  A couple of answers were because we could learn more about it, and because we needed to be reminded of things.  Both were great answers.

I had previously printed "Plan of Salvation" from True to the Faith and inserted it into their journals, so I had them all turn to that.  I separated the 10 kids that were in attendance into 3 groups and had them study together for 10 minutes (I set a timer), with the assignment to find things they hadn't known before (as individuals).  I then gave them 10 more minutes (set the timer again) to study as individuals and continue writing down things they may not have known before or that someone else might find interesting that wanted to know more about the plan of salvation.  I gave them strips of paper to write questions on that they now had the answers to (i.e. Q. What are the three basic parts of the plan of salvation?)

We ran out of time just a few minutes into the question writing.

The following Sunday I was released as a Sunday School teacher and called as 1st Counselor in the Primary Presidency, so the last half of this lesson was my final lesson for this class.

We jumped right back into writing questions from the print out with the timer set for 10 minutes.  I asked the question again, "Why is LEARNING such an important part of Heavenly Father's plan?"  We took a couple minutes to discuss that, and I got more input than the first time I asked that question.  I had written a few bullet points up on the board of other things we had already discussed and went over each one and it's importance in the learning process.  These bullets included inviting the Holy Ghost to accompany us to help us to learn, to listen, talk, learn during class, to record feelings and impressions, to record those feelings and impressions in ACTION FORM (we used examples to help us understand what this means), to JUST DO IT, and to share.  We talked about how they could use their journals now that I'm not their teacher, and I encouraged them to continuing using them to follow those steps of learning.

I had drawn a grid of dots on the board while they were writing their questions, and I gathered all the questions they had written.  I only had three boys and three girls this week, so I had a girls team and a boys team.  I would read a question and the first one to raise their hand got to answer the question.  We discussed before we started how an answer could be acceptable even if it wasn't the exact one and that I would make that call.  I ended up having to have all the kids scoot closer to the middle because I couldn't always see the kids raise their hands that were seated to my far right and far left. We also had to come up with a rule that if a hand raised in the middle of my asking the question I had to stop reading and they had to answer the question from what I had already read (some of the kids would just raise their hand so they would have the first opportunity to answer not necessarily because they had the answer first).  The first one to raise their hand AND answer correctly got to write a line from one dot to another to try to make a square.  If a square was made the boys put a "B" in the square and the girls put a "G," and another line was made.  If a square wasn't made, just one line was drawn.  We said a closing prayer at the first bell and kept playing until the 2nd bell rang. It was a ton of fun.

Loved my class and I'll miss them.  My next posts will probably be about Primary sharing time!

Sunday School Lesson January 2015 How can I learn to see Heavenly Father's hand in all things?

This was a fun one!

After opening with a class prayer, we talked about what a tender mercy is.  I recounted Pres. Eyring's experience of writing DAILY circumstances or things where he recognized Heavenly Father's hand in his life or around him that day.

I then asked the question, "What might prevent you from recognizing Heavenly Father's influence in your life?"  Some of the answers were 'being over scheduled," "distractions," "pride," "being focused on yourself," and "attributing good things to luck."

We talked about how learning to recognize His influence could bless them now.  Blessings included: being grateful/ happy, recognizing the good instead of focusing on the bad, humility.  Then we talked about how it could bless them in the future and how these same blessings could snowball into a happier self and a happier life.  I offered suggestions, but there was quite a bit of input from the kids of different scenarios of application.

I shared an experience of when I noticed Heavenly Father's hand in my life, then I invited the kids to share experiences or areas where they notice Heavenly Father's hand.  One girl recounted when she lost an earring she had just received for her birthday.  She lost it on the way to school, looked for it briefly, couldn't find it but didn't have time right then to search further.  She looked again on her way home from school, still couldn't find it, so she prayed.  She found it and recognized His hand.  Another girl shared how her grandpa was really sick and that she could tell it was worrying her dad.  Everyone was already praying for her grandpa, but she also prayed for her dad and she felt that he found peace to get through her grandpa getting sick.  A new convert shared how he has seen Heavenly Father's hand in his family as they have found the gospel (he is super shy so it was extra AWESOME to hear his experience even though he didn't elaborate very much).

I gave them all three minutes to write as many things as they could in their journals where they could see Heavenly Father's hand in their lives and around them.  Then we blew up a balloon and I had paper plate paddles (a paper plate with a large popsicle stick/ depression stick taped to it for a handle, and the outline of a hand on the paper plate representing Heavenly Father's hand). I counted off 1-2-1-2 through all the kids and all the ones were on the left, all the twos were on the right, chairs and bags were scooted to the edge of the wall and all the kids stood up in a line, shoulder to shoulder.  We did a practice run where the balloon had to be kept up in the air by hitting it with the paddle and the paddle passed to the next teammate before the balloon dropped so the teammate could hit the balloon to keep it in the air.  The real challenge was that when the game really started they had to do this same thing but call out one of the things on their list of where they have seen Heavenly Father's hand in their lives before they got to hit the balloon.  If the balloon fell, if they repeated something that had already been said, or if they couldn't remember anything to say, the other team received a point.  It was a low scoring game because they all did really well, but the kids enjoyed it.

I challenged them to write something down each day for the following week of things that were His doing that blessed them.  It was a really fun lesson for everyone.  Remembering our blessings always is.