Self Reliance

(Maybe it is just my part of the world - Australia - but due to world economic situations we have been receiving much counsel on Self Reliance lately. In the last month we have had a stake welfare day, combined PH and RS Welfare lesson, my husband went to regional training that focused on Self Reliance, a lesson based on Elder Hales talk from General Conference and the list could go on. I actually think it is all a little scary and my family definately needs to improve in many areas!! We were challenged on Sunday by our Bishop to do a FHE lesson on Self Reliance, and here is the one I made up )

Family Home Evening Lesson
Self Reliance

Opening Song: "I will be valiant" Children's Songbook #162

Opening Prayer: Daddy

Lesson: Mommy

I got some inspiration for this lesson from Here at Lds.families.com

Talk briefly how it is important for families to be able to look after themselves. You could mention food storage, 72 hour kits, growing a garden, knowing your scripture stories, saving money etc.

Depending on the age of your child choose as many or few activites from below to show/teach your child - This is a hands on FHE!

Spiritual ~
Share Testimonies with each other. Talk about why it is important to have/develop a testimony
Scriptures - look through scriptures and why it is important for us to know the stories therein

Money ~
Have play money (or real) and get children to put in amounts that is spent on food, house, bills, tithing, etc then show how much is left(probably not much LOL!!) - teach it is important to save some money for emergencies (like broken cars, storms, sickness, if daddy loses job etc)

Car ~
Show children where the oil or water or petrol goes in the car, get them to help you. They will enjoy looking at the engine!

Sewing ~
We all need to know how to repair clothes, sew on a button etc. Older children can sew on some scaps of material or a button, younger children could thread beads on string etc

Emotional ~
The need to be happy and be able to move on even when we are sad. Play some games like "If you're happy and you know it" "If you chance to see a frown - turn it upside down" Sit and talk about feelings etc

Food ~
Eat some food storage. Pack 72 hour kits. We have kits with little cereal boxes, muslie bars,chocolate bars, juice box, dried fruit. These go out of date every 6 months so we sit around and eat the contents and pack new ones.

Shelter ~
Build a shelter out of blankets, tarps or set up a small tent. Ask Child if they could make shelter if needed be?

Closing Song: "Dare to do right" Children's Songbook #158

Closing Prayer: Child

Treat:

Food Storage foods :)

Speaking Kindly

Family Home Evening Lesson

“Speaking Kindly”

Opening Song: “Jesus Said Love Everyone” Children's Songbook #61

Opening Prayer: Child
Lesson: Daddy
Ask your children what kindess is. Explain that kindess is being nice to people. (show a picture of Jesus) Jesus was always nice to everyone and we should try to be like Him. One way to show kindess is to speak nicely.

Object lesson: Filling Other's Jars

Have an empty clear jar or cup on display. You can have one for each child (you can tape a picture of each child on the jar/cup). Then have a bowl of marbles (or candy) and a bowl of rocks (or something the kids don't like eating). Explain that the bowl of marbles/candy represents nice words (you can tape a picture of a smiley face on the bowl) and the bowl of rocks/yucky food represent mean words (you can tape a picture of a frowny face on the bowl). Explain that every time we say something to others it is like putting something in their jar. Give an example of something said recently and put the appropriate rock or marble in the jar. (ex: child A called child B a snot face. Put a rock in child B's jar. OR child A told child B that he loved her. Put a marble in child B's jar) Do as many examples as hold their attention and make them as relevant to the phrases they use or should be using as you can. (You may want to write them down ahead of time so you can remember which ones you want to discourage or encourage)

Ask the children if they would prefer their jars to be filled with rocks or marbles? How do they feel when a rock gets put in their jar? What about when a marble gets put in their jar? Tell them that we are in charge of fillling each other's jars and we should fill them the way that we want ours filled (the golden rule). You can keep these jars on display throughout the week and add the appropriate rocks/marbles as you hear kind words or not so kind words. Make sure to reinforce kind speaking if you hear unkind words. (We are having issues with our 4 year old talking back, so we'll probably do jars for Mom and Dad as well)

Update: My 4 1/2 year old really latched on to the idea of putting rocks or marbles in people's jars. It really seemed to resonate with her and she was able to easily apply the concept. She was able to come up with many things that were considered rocks or marbles throughout the rest of the evening. My 2 1/2 year old just wanted to put the rocks or marbles in her jar, regardless of why...

Practicing Tone: Let's practice speaking in different ways. First say "No Thankyou" but in an angry voice. Now say "No Thankyou" in a happy voice. Which was a kinder tone? Now try shouting "Go get the book!" Now whisper it. Which was better? Now say "I love you" with a frown and a pouty voice, then with a smile and a sweet voice. Point out that it is much kinder to smile while saying nice things. Emphasize that to speak kindly it's not just the words that matter, but it's the way we speak- our tone, volume, expression/body language. You may want to practice more phrases depending on your children.

Suggested Activity:

Play "Kindness ball toss" by tossing a ball to someone in the family and saying something nice about that person. Prompt young children to say easy things like "Pretty eyes", "I love you", or "Nice shirt."

Craft:

Help children to decorate their jars, use sequins, beads, stickers, ribbons, whatever you have on hand. (Both my girls loved this part)

Closing Song: “I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus" Children's Songbook #78

Closing Prayer: Mommy

Treat:

Goblin Tongues from FamilyFun.com (mouths and tongues to emphasize paying attention to what words are coming out of our mouths)

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
	Mini bagels
	Cream cheese
	Bologna slices

1. For each Goblin Tongue sandwich, spread cream cheese between the top and bottom of a mini bagel.

2. Use a butter knife or kitchen shears to cut a tongue shape from a half slice of bologna. Then gently press the base of the tongue into the bagel hole.

Honesty

Family Home Evening Lesson
Honesty

Opening Song: "Our Primary Colors" Children's Song Book #258

Opening Prayer: Daddy

Lesson: Mommy

Using a packet of feather ask children to place feathers in different spots around the room. Tell this story - Imagine you were asked to go around the entire neighbourhood and leave a feather on the doorstep of each person.

Using a book or like blow the feathers from their original spots

The next day their assignment is to gather the feathers from the doorsteps

Explain how it would be difficult to collect the feathers as the wind would have blown the feathers away at night.

This is how satan convinces us it is easy to tell a lie or say mean things about people. It's as easy as placing a feather down. However it is very hard to gather feathers once they have been blown away. As with lying or saying mean things, they come out of our mouth easy, but it is impossible to take them back.


Activity: Place a coin (or chocolate coin) in children's shoes and tell this story from President Hinckleys life (a story his father told him or you can see the video on You Tube Mormon Messages HERE )

An older boy and his companion were walking along a road by a field. The saw an old coat and a worn pair of mens shoes. The younger boy suggested they hide the shoes, conceal themselves and watch the owner wonder where his shoes are.

The older boy, thought that would not be nice. He said the owner must be very poor. He suggested instead that they put a silver dollar in each shoe, and then hide and see what the man does when he finds the coins.

Soon the man came tried to slip on his shoes and found the silver dollars. Wonder and surprise showed in his face. He looked around but could find nobody. Then man knelt down and gave a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for whoever put the money there. The man had a sick wife and children without any bread.

The boys hid until the man was gone. The older boy said "Don't you have a good feeling? Aren't you glad we didn't try to trick the man by hiding his shoes?"

Tell the family members to look in their shoes.

Encourage them to be honest and kind to others.



Closing Song: "I believe in being Honest" Children's Songbook #149

Closing Prayer: Mommy

Treat:

Chocolate Coins

Cotton Candy (is this feathery??)

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