October Sharing Time - Successful Families Work Together

In our primary, we split up the sharing times by the month.  Each member of the presidency takes a turn doing sharing time for one month, another is in charge of conducting that month and the third checks on teachers and fills in where needed.  This has been my month for sharing time and I plan to continue sharing my plans with you every three months when my turn comes back around, but I am not planning to re-start plans every week. 

Just so you know. 

Thanks again for all the wonderful emails and comments!!

Now, on to my planned lesson...

In his most recent General Conference talk Elder L. Tom Perry said, "Many in our worried society understand that the disintegration of the family will bring only sorrow and hopelessness into a troubled world. As members of the Church, we have the responsibility to preserve and protect the family as the basic unit of society and eternity."

I'm going to open with that quote and then spend a little time talking about it with some yarn. 

First, I'll ask what disintegration means.  As we talk about it, I'll unravel one strand of yarn.  There are times in all our lives where we feel like things are falling apart.  Sometimes it's us, like when we throw a tantrum (yes, adults do that too) and other times it's out of our control. 

Next, I'll ask if the quote said that only parents or grown up people are responsible to protect our families?  Elder Perry taught that every member of the church shares that responsibility. 

Then, we'll talk about what our families need while I break some of that unraveled yarn.  We need to work together to make them stronger and to illustrate, I'll have a few kids come up and braid the yarn even stronger than it was in the beginning.

After we finish with the yarn, we'll move on to Noah's charades.  Noah and his family needed to work together to accomplish God's will.  My dad called working together bonding time (my mom still hates to have anything called bonding time) and if that's the case, Noah's family must have been one of the most closely bonded families of all time!

Some ideas for charades (including the outline ideas):
Chopping down wood for ark
Building a fire
Herding animals
Cleaning the animals
Cooking dinner
Hunting for dinner
Building the ark

After you're finished, if you have time, you can have the kids draw something their family does to work together while you talk about how working together makes families stronger.  I think we'll just talk about it, going around the room giving ideas and then I'll send home this sheet making the drawing homework (you can download it from my google drive, it's open to the public, no need to request a share).

The adorable clipart is from Melonheadz where you can find lots for free and to buy, if you haven't been you should check it out!
 

In closing, I'll talk about how important work is.

I recently found a great talk given back in 1982 by President Dean Jarman, the Stake President of the Salt Lake University 2nd Stake in the Welfare Session of General Conference, titled appropriately enough, "The Blessings of Family Work Projects."  In the talk President Jarman quotes his children describing the values they'd found through hard family work.  His 18 year old son said, “Since I can remember, I have been taught the value of hard work and honoring all of your responsibilities and your family name. As I look back to my experience in family projects, I can see how they have shaped my character and personality by letting me make many important decisions. I have gained confidence by meeting new people and am better able to express myself. But the most important thing about family work projects is that your family comes closer together in love and respect.”

My very favorite part of the quote is the end, after everything else, the most important value in working together as a family is that it brings you together.  It does.  I've experienced it in my life and I'm trying my best to share the value of "bonding time" with my children.

Happy Sharing Time,
Leah