Step two: recognize the difference between learning and teaching (hint: it's more subtle than you may think according to Elder Bednar.)
Two Things to Remember When Teaching Children About The Gospel
First, it's is the most important thing you can teach your child because it is part of keeping them alive! And second, children learn best by example. Even if you feel like you are going through the motions or doing things just for show, everyone involved will eventually learn to hear the music of the gospel if their "normal" is a constant view of its dance steps (bonus points for recognizing the General conference reference!) If you love going to the temple or General Conference and make those experiences a priority, you're well one your way. Everything can somehow relate to the gospel, so be on the look out for prime teaching moments; they happen more often than you realize!
That said, something important I've learned in dealing with toddlers young and old is to remember what Elder S. Mark Palmer so recently taught: "No teaching or learning will ever occur when done in frustration or anger, and hearts will not change where love is not present." Learning to recognize your child's frustrated signs and give them the tools to recognize and remove their frustration (a masking mixture of emotions) will help both of you learn and teach better. Giving them the tools they need may involve learning your own frustration triggers and finding ways to effectively mediate them. It's another life process that is learned by doing :)
So what are my secrets?
1. Family Home Evening. Have it and have it weekly. Always have a gospel lesson suited to the needs and attention spans of your family members and try to have it on a day other than the Sabbath. The lesson should be more than just scripture study. With really young-in-the-gospel audiences I've found it helpful to review or preview that week's Primary lesson. There are also several blogs I follow that given me great inspiration: Pinning with Purpose and We Talk of Christ to name a couple.
2. Twice-a-day Family Prayers.
What better way to teach children about God and His gospel than to talk with Him? As we improve our own personal prayers and invite them to do the same, children may learn the nuances between food prayers, break the fast prayers, ordinance prayers, etc.
3. Daily family scripture study. I am a firm believer that children should hear the written word in its purest form as well as study the scriptures in a way that meets their own needs. to that end we study the scriptures two or three different ways each day: 1 page of the Book of Mormon at breakfast (or at dinner if some of us sleep in), telling of scripture stories in everyday language but with key doctrines underscored by quoted verses (this especially worked well for the first 3 years of bedtime), listening to Scripture Scouts (another bedtime routine and one that I grew up with), and reading through all of the illustrated Children's readers again and again.
First, it's is the most important thing you can teach your child because it is part of keeping them alive! And second, children learn best by example. Even if you feel like you are going through the motions or doing things just for show, everyone involved will eventually learn to hear the music of the gospel if their "normal" is a constant view of its dance steps (bonus points for recognizing the General conference reference!) If you love going to the temple or General Conference and make those experiences a priority, you're well one your way. Everything can somehow relate to the gospel, so be on the look out for prime teaching moments; they happen more often than you realize!
That said, something important I've learned in dealing with toddlers young and old is to remember what Elder S. Mark Palmer so recently taught: "No teaching or learning will ever occur when done in frustration or anger, and hearts will not change where love is not present." Learning to recognize your child's frustrated signs and give them the tools to recognize and remove their frustration (a masking mixture of emotions) will help both of you learn and teach better. Giving them the tools they need may involve learning your own frustration triggers and finding ways to effectively mediate them. It's another life process that is learned by doing :)
So what are my secrets?
1. Family Home Evening. Have it and have it weekly. Always have a gospel lesson suited to the needs and attention spans of your family members and try to have it on a day other than the Sabbath. The lesson should be more than just scripture study. With really young-in-the-gospel audiences I've found it helpful to review or preview that week's Primary lesson. There are also several blogs I follow that given me great inspiration: Pinning with Purpose and We Talk of Christ to name a couple.
2. Twice-a-day Family Prayers.
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3. Daily family scripture study. I am a firm believer that children should hear the written word in its purest form as well as study the scriptures in a way that meets their own needs. to that end we study the scriptures two or three different ways each day: 1 page of the Book of Mormon at breakfast (or at dinner if some of us sleep in), telling of scripture stories in everyday language but with key doctrines underscored by quoted verses (this especially worked well for the first 3 years of bedtime), listening to Scripture Scouts (another bedtime routine and one that I grew up with), and reading through all of the illustrated Children's readers again and again.
All these things I have learned in my youth from parents who used well the gifts of the spirit as given to them. The Holy Ghost has taught me countless applications for the teachings of the prophets as taught to me by my parents. Happy Father's Day Dad!
