Monday, November 3, 2014

Jesus loved the little children

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons. When possible on Sundays, I discuss some things related to my faith and what I believe. With respect to your own beliefs, I hope this gives you a chance to get to know me and my religion a little better. For previous installments, click here.

A few weeks ago, Blake and I accepted the assignment to teach in the nursery class at church. Nursery is the children's class for ages 18-36 months. Between teaching and librarianing in a K-12 school all week and now being in nursery for two hours on Sundays, I deal with a lot of other people's kids.

I honestly don't mind. In fact, I enjoy it. In Nursery, we play a lot, sing a lot, and have a little lesson for as long as we can. If we can get the kids reverent and paying attention for even 5 minutes, that's a win. And then there is all the coloring. And snacks!

I also really enjoy that I get to do this assignment with Blake. While we'll miss getting into more meaty parts of the gospel in the adult meetings and classes, it's nice to get down to the real simple basics together as we prepare our lessons. Together is the key. We get to have even more regular gospel discussions together and then practice teaching little ones in preparation for our own future kids. Besides, more church meetings should end with blowing bubbles for several minutes.

Have you ever served in Nursery or a similar children's ministry? What worked or didn't work for you? What have you found that works/doesn't work for your own kids? I'll take all the ideas I can get!

2 comments:

Giggles said...

I served in the nursery before my mission. The biggest thing that helped me was actually sitting on the floor with the kids rather than in the window sills talking to the other adults.

We're actively preparing Iddo for nursery now. She starts right before Christmas. So far she understands that she needs to fold her arms for prayer and say "amen" (or "hi mommy," they sound similar) at some point. And she can identify many different visual versions of Jesus. We've also taught her when to jump up during the Sunbeam song.

AmandaStretch said...

I wish I could have Iddo in my class!