General Conference With Our Little Ones

It's that time of year again. Spring General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am thrilled to say that Jakob (5 years old) was actually anticipating and excited for these next couple of days. Not for the same reasons as Leif and I of course. But it's a start.

General Conference is a series of 4 general sessions of speakers. Each session is two hours long spanning two days. So as you can imagine, it is not easy to sit through every session, let alone sitting in a room full of little ones. So I have taken it upon myself as the mama to try my best to make it an uplifting experience for everyone. My goal is to keep the spirit of the Lord in the home throughout the sessions so all can be edified in one way or another. My next goal is to train my sons to eventually get to a point where they will sit quietly during the conference and Listen to the words being spoken. Leif and I take this quite seriously. It's not every day that you are able to sit at the feet of prophets and apostles and be taught the word of the Lord.

So here are the few things that we do to help us all pay attention:

The night before the first session of conference we set up a "Conference Tent." This gives us boundaries and guideline of where we are "sitting" during conference.

This year I found "Apostle Flash Cards." Each Apostle had a picture as well as a fun description about them. As Papa set up the tent, I sat with the boys and we read about each Apostle and the Prophet. Jakob loved learning about their military career as well as how many children they all had. He thought it was AMAZING that someone could have 12 children. He also learned that he and Elder Hales share the same birthday. (Caleb enjoyed looking at the pictures and sitting on Papa's lap.) In the morning I taped each of the pictures up. Jakob earned a treat every time he recognized when one of the Apostles were speaking (with some help of course.)

From conference 2010

I was also able to find a great "General Conference Packet" this year that was made especially for Junior Primary children. I printed it out and Jakob's enjoyed it so far.

From conference 2010

Of course we always have a "Conference Bingo" game going which includes WAY too much Candy. This year Jakob turned to Leif and I and said, "I remember last conference I ate way too much candy, I was SICK!" So, I have taken that into consideration.

This next session we'll put the candy away and I have a fruit platter with a cool whip/yogurt dip, trail mix, beef jerky, and Chex mix to keep our mouths and stomachs occupied.

So far, So good!

From conference 2010